Before the Storm
by Team-Klaus
Summary: 2 months before the start of The Dark Knight Rises, Lily Smith, granddaughter of Alfred Pennyworth comes to Gotham. She shows up around the same time the new cape crusader Batgirl does and two villains, The Penguin and Riddler. One night patrolling the city Batgirl runs saves a cop named John Blake from the penguin. Can the two save Gotham from the Penguin and Riddler, John / OC.
1. Chapter 1

**I Do Not Own Batman or anything else, except my OC(s)!**

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"Flight 23 will be leaving shortly for Gotham City" The woman on the intercom said loudly.

I stood up from my chair and walked over to the woman who was taking tickets for the flight. I handed her my ticket before boarding the plane and taking my seat. I let out a sigh as a huge man who smelled funny sat next to me. He was smacking his lips together as chewed on something. The man looked at me and smiled showing horrible yellow teeth.

"My names Harold" He said and continued his lip smacking.

"Lily" I said as I tried to hide my annoyance.

I turned my head to the window next to me and hoped that the plane ride to Gotham would be over soon. Not because of the man next to me, but because I was dying to see my Grandfather, who was so kind to ask his boss if I could stay with them for a while My Grandfather's boss, Bruce Wayne, who I had met a lot growing up was like an older brother to me. Though I haven't seen him in the last eight years.

My grandfather Alfred has told me every time I asked him when he came to visit me, in New York once a year that Bruce has been very busy with some soul searching. I was brought out of my thoughts when the man, Harold began to cough moving all over the seat knocking into me once in a while. I growled lowly at him as he cleared his throat making a sickening sound.

"Sorry" He muttered before spitting in a cup.

I gagged a little and turned away from him. I got out my iPod and began to listen to my music loudly to ignore the man next to me. As my music blocked out the world around me, I couldn't help, but think about my Mother and Father. I could remember their cheerful smiles. Smiles that I have missed seeing in the last thirteen years. You see my parents were driving home one night and stopped at a gas station to get some things. They were paying for their things when a group of robbers walked into the store shooting everyone in there. My parents died along with ten people. The robbers were never caught.

I was only sixteen when that happened and I was forced to live with my Aunt and Uncle with their four children. To say that they treated me like one of their own would be a lie. A lie that I had to tell family and friends, until I reached the age of eighteen. That's when I moved to New York and went to a culinary school. Ever since my Mother had taught me to cook at a young age, I had wanted to own my own restaurant. I have recently graduated from the school and have no where to else to go, beside to Bruce's.

I closed my eyes trying to fall asleep ignoring the man next to me. About twenty minutes of trying, I had manage to fall asleep, but for only a few hours. But I did not mind being woken up by the stewardess, because when I was woken up the plane had arrived in Gotham. I thanked the woman as I got out of my seat. I quickly exited the plane and walked into the airport passing the man I had sat next too. I stopped walking with a wide smile on my face as I saw my Grandfather waiting for me with a small sign. I rushed over to him hugging him tightly. He wrapped his arms around me.

"It's great to see you my little Lily" He said as he held me out at arms length looking me up and down, "You have grown since I last saw you"

I laughed as he removed his arms, but stopped when he reached for my luggage, that I had tossed on the ground when I went to hug him.

"I can carry them, Papa" I told him as I reached for them.

"I won't let my Granddaughter carry her own luggage, especially after a long flight like yours" He said and took my suitcases from me.

"It was only a five hour flight and I slept through most of it" I told him as we walked through the slightly crowded airport.

He only shook his head at me. I rolled my eyes and followed him out of the building. We stopped next to a black car. Papa opened the trunk and placed my luggage inside as I got into the back of the car. Papa shut the trunk and got into the driver seat up front.

"So how's Bruce?" I asked him after a moment of silence.

"He is doing good. Can't wait to see you again" Papa told me with a smile glad that Bruce was finally and hopefully getting out of his down in the dumps mood.

"And I can't wait to see him either! I've missed him over the last eight years" I told him and I thought I heard him say he has too, but I ignored it.

"Well Lily how has life in New York been?" he asked me and I shrugged my shoulders as I looked out the window of the car.

"It's been okay and I have missed you" I told him.

"That's good and I missed you also" He told me with smile on his face.

We arrived at the Wayne Manor half an hour later. I got out of the car and looked up at the big building smiling wide as I saw a man look out of one of the many windows. I waved and followed Papa as he walked to the main door of the place. I heard the sound of someone walking down the stairs with a light thump a few seconds after each foot step. I turned to the stair case to see Bruce limping with a cane. My eyes went wide after seeing his face. He had a beard and mustache, but that wasn't what made my eyes went wide, well part of it had, but it was mostly his eyes. They were darker then normal, like there was no happiness or light in them.

"Bruce, long time no see!" I said grinning widely as I hugged him.

He returned the hug and chuckled as he ruffled my hair a little.

"You should had come and visit me then" He said with a small smile.

I rolled my eyes at him as I patted my hair down.

"Sorry, but I had been a little too busy with school to come and visit. I finally graduated though! So I have all the time in the world now" I told him.

"Congratulations, you got a degree in..." He paused for a moment thinking.

I giggled at him, and shook my head.

"Bachelors in Culinary" I told him.

"Right! I'm sorry that I forgot all about it. I did get you something though. Um, Alfred could you go get the present I was planning on sending her?" Bruce asked Papa.

"Yes, Master Wayne" Papa said and left to a different room.

"So how are you Lily?" Bruce asked as we walked to the living room.

"I'm doing fine" I told him with a small smile on my face.

"Really?" He questioned as stared into my eyes.

I looked away from him. I've been fine, but lately I've been thinking about my parents and missing them so much. Every time I met someone and they ask me how I was, I tell them I'm fine, but really on the inside I'm not.

"I miss my parents, Bruce. I miss their smiles, and their laughter. I miss them so much" I said as I tried to hold back the tears that have been threatening to fall for a while now.

"Hey it's okay, Lily. Just remember that they are always with you" He said pulling me into a brotherly hug.

"I know that they are, but I just wish they were still here" I whispered into his shoulder as I hugged him.

"I know how you feel" Bruce whispered as he hugged me.

Someone's throat cleared making Bruce and I let go of each other. We turned to see Papa holding a medium size box. I smiled at Bruce and thanked him for the gift as Papa handed me the pastel purple wrapped box.

"You didn't have to get me anything" I told him as I un-wrapped the box.

"I know, but I wanted too. You deserved it after working so hard in school" Bruce said as he watched me pull the lid of the box off.

I gasped after seeing the gift he had given me. It was a beautiful black strapless gown that had white sparkling swirl design on the right side. I held the dress up to me and watched as the soft fabric fall to my feet. The gown must had cost a fortune! I couldn't take something like that!

"It's so beautiful Bruce, but I can't take something like this" I told him as I looked up from the dress and at him.

Bruce smiled and shook his head at me.

"Keep it, I have no use for a dress, but I'm sure you will soon" He said with a small grin like he knew something.

I cocked my head a little as I stared at him with my eyebrows knitted together in confusion. What did he mean? I had no reason for a beautiful gown like that! It looked like it was suppose to worn to places like rich parties or plays. I went to neither of the things.

"You didn't tell her?" Bruce asked looking at Papa who shook his head no.

I looked between the two wondering what was going on.

"I let Alfred off tomorrow night and got you two reservation at this great restaurant, so the two of you can catch up" Bruce said.

"Will you be joining us?" I asked him curiously.

Over the last eight years I have heard over the internet and some of the women that I went to college with that Bruce never left his home and some said that he had left Gotham and moved to some remote exotic place in the Caribbeans.

"I don't go out anymore" He said with a frown.

I frowned also and chewed on the inside of my lip wondering if there was someway that I could talk him into going with us, but before I could even speak one word, Papa ushered me up stairs to show me my room. It was on the west wing of the mansion where the guest rooms were. We walked down the long hallway in silence, until we stopped in front of a door. Papa set my luggage down to unlock the door with an old bronze key.

"After the mansion was burnt down, Master Wayne had your old room restored just the way it was when you were little" Papa said as he opened the door.

He picked up my suitcases and walked inside with me following him. I looked around the room with a smile on my face. Everything was the exactly the same, except there were a few differences, but they were hardly noticeable.

"What do you think?" Papa asked as he set my suitcases down on the floor.

"It's exactly the same" I told him with a smile as I walked over to the window that was above the garden.

"I'm glad you like it. Well dinner will be around seven. Master Wayne usually eats in his room, so it will most likely be just the two of us, my little Lily" Papa smiled.

I nodded my head and Papa excused himself saying that he had to start cooking dinner. I turned to my suitcases after shutting my bedroom door. I put away my clothes quickly and looked at the gown that I hung in the closet. I could believe that Bruce had bought me something like that. He was to kind. Paying people to help find my parents, letting me stay here, and buying this beautiful dress! How could a man who was that kind, hide from the world?

I shook my head as I held in a yawn. I walked over to my closet and grabbed my pajamas. I changed into the light yellow tank top and shorts quickly, before laying on the feather soft bed. I closed my eyes and was instantly asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**I Do Not Own Batman or anything else, except my OC(s)!**

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**AN: I will be updating this story every Saturday.**

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_I was in a gas station next to my parents and a younger me, as they paid for the things that they had gotten._

"Mommy? Daddy?" I said as I stared at them.

My father handed the cashier a twenty and went to grab the two plastic bags from the counter, when the door of the station opened. Five men walked in with black ski masks, all of them were holding shotguns.

I screamed at my parents to run, but they couldn't hear me. My father stepped in front of my mother and the younger me as one of the men shouted something at them. My father shook his head and was shot in the chest. My mother screamed and dropped to her knees crying as she held my father. The younger me backed away with tears in her eyes. The man raised his gun at my mother and told her to be quiet. She kept crying, until the man shot her in the chest. That's when the younger me dropped to the ground and hid behind the cashier counter covering her ears.

_I screamed, cursed and cried at the man as he and the others shot everyone in the station. All, but me. I dropped to my knees next to my parents crying. I should had died with them! I should had done something to save them, but no I was a coward! All I could do now was stare at my Mother's cold lifeless green eyes._

_Something was shaking me. I looked around as everything began to shake around me. Was their an earthquake?_

I opened my eyes and saw Papa worried eyes looking at me. I sat up and held a hand to my forehead. I felt the cold sweat that I had gotten from the nightmare.

"Did you have a nightmare?" Papa asked me worriedly.

I nodded and looked towards the window. It was dark out so it must had to be around seven or so.

"You want to talk about it?" He asked me and shook my head.

He nodded in understanding.

"If you ever do though you can always speak to either me or Master Wayne" Papa said and gave me a smile.

I smiled back, but I couldn't get the awful feeling that the nightmare was trying to tell me something.

"Well dinner is ready. If you want to eat it in here, I'll bring it right up" He said and shook my head.

"I'll eat in the kitchen or the dinning room" I told him and Papa nodded his head.

"Master Wayne has decided to join us" Papa said as we walked down the stairs after I had changed into a pair of jeans and a violet long sleeve shirt.

We walked into the kitchen and Bruce was already there sitting at the small table. He watched me as I sat across from him.

"Are you okay?" He asked me as I looked at the table sadly.

"She had a nightmare" Papa said as he placed two plates on the table.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Bruce asked as he took one of the plates.

"Not now" I told him quietly as I took the other.

Papa sat between us with his own plate. We ate in silence and when dinner was over Bruce and I walked to the living room, while Papa cleaned up.

"What was the nightmare about?" Bruce asked me.

"My parents" I whispered as I stared at the lit fireplace.

"What happened in the nightmare with your parents?" He asked me.

I shivered as I could see my Mother lifeless cold eyes. The dream had felt so real like it had actually happened.

"The night they were killed" I told him holding my tears back.

Bruce grabbed my hand in a comforting gesture. He gave a soft squeeze.

"I was in the gas station, as me now. The younger me was there also. I stood next to them as my father paid the cashier. I said Mommy? Daddy?, but they couldn't hear me. Then those robbers came in with their shotguns. My father stepped in front of my Mother and the younger me. The leader of the group shouted something at them, but my father wouldn't listen, then he was shot. My mother screamed and dropped to her knees crying, while holding my father's dead body. The man told her to be quiet, but she wouldn't and so the man shot her. I screamed at him, cursed and cried as he killed everyone in the station, but me as I hid behind the counter. I dropped to my knees next to my parents. I stared into my Mother's lifeless green eyes. Then I was woken up. I should had died with them, or I should had saved them some how" I told him.

I looked at him with watery eyes as the tears were dying to fall.

"I know you may think that you should had done something to save them, but what could you have done? I wished I could had done something to save my parents, but I was to scared" Bruce said and I couldn't hold my tears any longer.

Bruce held me tightly as I cried onto his shoulder, like an older brother would when his little sister was sad, hurt or scared.

"It's going to be alright, Lily" Bruce whispered, "They are in a much better place"

I don't know when I had fallen asleep on the couch Bruce and I had sat on earlier, but I woke up alone on the couch with a warm blanket over me and a soft pillow under my head.

"Good morning, Lily. How are you feeling?" Bruce asked as he walked with his cane into the living room.

My head was pounding from my crying session last night.

"My head is killing me" I told him as I laid back down on the couch.

"I'll get Alfred to bring you something for that" Bruce said and left the room.

A few minutes passed and Papa walked into the room with a glass of water and a white pill. He handed me the medicine and then the glass. I took the medicine and drunk the water. I handed Papa the glass back while thanking him.

"Feeling any better?" He asked me after a few minutes.

"Yeah, the head ache is going away" I told him.

"Well that's good. I made breakfast, it's in the kitchen" Papa said and left the room.

I got off the couch and walked into the kitchen. Bruce was eating a piece of toast reading a newspaper. I sat across from him and began to eat my food. The kitchen was silent beside the usual scrape of a fork or spoon, the crunch of toast being bitten into or the crinkling sound of the news paper page being turned.

Once I was finished eating I decided to go take a shower and get ready for the day. I had planned to go look around town. So when I left the manor, I had told them I was going into town to the park and check out the library. Which I was planning on doing.

Bruce was kind enough to loan me one of his cars that he had saying that it would be good for one of them to be driven. The car that he let me use was a red camaro. I got into the car and drove to the city.

After driving around for a while I parked the car and got out. I looked around and saw the library, a park nearby and a few other stores. I checked out the library for a while and signed up for a library card. I then went to the park and spent an hour there walking around. After leaving the park I walked quickly through the crowd of people on the sidewalk.

Walking around for about ten minutes I sat down on a bench. I let out a sigh as I looked around the place. I saw people walking, or standing at the near by bus stop. It was a nice city, though there were some shady people around.

"Looky here boys!" I heard a man from a near by bar shout.

I gulped as the men grabbed a woman that was near by. They forcefully dragged her down a dark alley. I got up from the bench, placed the black hood of my jacket over my head and walked over to the alley. I looked down it and saw the man that had spoken earlier holding a knife to the woman.

"Be quiet" He growled at the woman.

"P-Please don't hurt me" She sobbed.

"Shh, we won't hurt you" The man told her.

"Much" One of the other men added with a chuckle.

I couldn't let those men hurt that woman! Somebody had to do something! I looked around for any signs of a police officer, but I didn't see any, that's when I began to looked around for anything that could possibly help me save her, but like earlier I did not see anything. I then looked to the exit and saw people walk by, none of them paying attention to what was going on. If they did none had shown it.

I'm so stupid for not bringing any protection! I should buy some pepper spray or a tazer gun, if I survive this un-harmed. I took a deep breath as the man ran a hand down the woman's hair and twirled some around his fingers.

"You know I like women with brown wavy hair" He said to her and I couldn't take it anymore.

I won't let someone hurt or touch someone like this, I had to at least try to stop him! So I climbed a fire escape and walked until I was above the men. I jumped down on one of the men, shocking everyone including myself. I couldn't believe I was actually doing this! I punched one of the men in the face making him back off a little, but the other three men grabbed me and tossed me into a set of metal trash cans.

I groaned as I stood up and glared at the three men walking over towards me. I looked around quickly for anything that could help me fight the three men. I saw something metal and rusted laying on the ground next to the turned over old dented metal trash cans. I ran over to the two cans and saw that it was an old rusted pipe. I grabbed it and ran at the three men.

I raised the pipe and slammed it down on one of the men head knocking him out cold. One of the men came at me. I swung the pipe again, but the man grabbed it from my hands and tossed it away. I backed away from and gulped when I hit the brick wall of a building. I looked around for anything that might help me, but saw none.

"Looks like we have a little hero" The man said before raising his fist behind him as he got ready to punch me.

While he was busy doing that, I took that as my chance to kick him in the groin. He fell to the ground with a high pitch grunt. I punched him in the face knocking him out. I grabbed the pipe that laid near by and turned back to the other men.

"Who's next?" I asked them in a low voice, hoping that I could take both of them with the pipe I had.

The two men laughed as they looked at me.

"What are you the new bat?" One of the men asked as they walked slowly over towards me.

My grip tightened on the pipe as the man got closer towards me.

"Maybe" I said with a smirk.

I swung the pipe at one of them hitting him in the gut, but it didn't bother him one bit. He grabbed the pipe and tossed it behind him. I kicked the man who had thrown the pipe behind him in the gut. The man grunted and smacked me, making me fall to the ground. I got up and tried to punch the man, but but he caught my fist and tossed me back to the ground.

I let out a growl and kicked his legs out from under him as he tried to punch me. The man got up and tried to grab me, but I ducked away from him. The man tried to grab me again, but I kicked him in the face making him fall to the ground with him holding his broken nose. I grinned and thanked God for the judo lessons I had been taking while I lived in New York.

I walked away from the man who laid on the ground and towards the leader of the group. He was a fairly big man, bigger then the three that I had taken care of. I grabbed the rusted pipe laying near by. The leader saw this got out his knife. I threw the pipe at the man's hand making him drop the knife. He growled and walked over to me.

"Why do you want to save this girl? You don't know her!" The man shouted pointing the woman, shook in fear as she watched all of this happening from the corner of the alley way.

"Because people like her needs to be saved from low life like you!" I said before jumping in the air, grabbing onto the escape ladder.

The man looked up at me as I swung towards him. My foot made contact with his face knocking him out cold. I landed on my feet and smiled after hearing the thump of the man hitting the ground. I let out a sigh standing up and looked at the woman with my hood lowered some more.

"Get out of here and call the police" I told her.

The woman nodded her head, thanked me and left quickly. I looked at the men before running the opposite direction of the woman. I had to get out of here quickly before the cops show up.

I jumped on a dumpster and climbed the chain linked fence. At the top I jumped down and ran away from the scene of the crime.

The sound of sirens near by made me walked a little bit faster towards the parked vehicle. I sat in the car for a moment as the adrenaline rush ran through me. I couldn't believe I had just done all of that! I just saved a woman who could had been killed! It felt great that I had done something like that, no wonder Batman had became who he was!

I started the car after the rush I felt began to die down. I drove away from the parking lot and back to Wayne manor. Once there Papa greeted me with a smile, but soon frowned when he saw that my clothes were dirty.

"What happened to you?" Papa asked me as he placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Well, this is kind of embarrassing" I said with a fake blush on my cheeks, "I was in the park when this cute great dane ran by me knocking me down onto the muddy ground. I was about to get up, but the dog jumped on me and began to lick my face"

Papa chuckled at the lie and told me to get cleaned up for lunch. I did as I was told and took a shower. Once I was finished with that lunch was ready, and I walked down to the kitchen where Bruce and Papa was sitting at the table watching the local news from a small flat screen TV.

_"It seems that Gotham has a new hero patrolling the cities street and she goes by Batgirl!" _The TV anchor woman said.

The screen went to the woman that I had saved earlier and a man holding a microphone.

"_This is the woman that was saved by the Batgirl earlier today. Could you tell us what happened?" _The man asked.

The woman nodded as her name appeared on the screen as Jenny Frankton.

_"She appeared out of no where and jumped on one of the men. The other men threw her around a bit, but she got right back up and fought them all by herself! She didn't have a suit like the Batman or weapons, except for an old rusted pipe and she had a black hood over head so I couldn't see her face, but who ever she is, I just want to thank her so much for saving me. I don't know what my children would had done if something had happened to me. Thank you so much Batgirl" _The woman said with tears in her eyes.

I smiled to myself as I sat at the table. Of course I wasn't going to be telling Papa or Bruce what had happened earlier.

I looked at the TV again when the reporter said that commissioner Gordon was wanting to say something about what had happened.

"_I would like everyone to know that this Batgirl is most likely a teenager trying to play superhero, who got lucky. We haven't found anything about this girl. We're looking into it now as we speak. If anyone knows anything about this Batgirl please call the station and tell us what you know. Thank you"_ The commissioner said and I couldn't help, but feel a little anger towards him.

I wasn't a teenager! I'm twenty-nine years old, thank you very much!

"I wonder who Batgirl is?" Papa asked as we ate our food.

Bruce had this weird look on his face as he ate his food in silence. I shrugged my shoulders as I took a bite out of my food.

"Who ever she is the girl has guts" I said after swallowing the food, "I, for one can't even fight a grown man on my own"

"Then you need to carry something around that could help protect you then. Maybe a can of pepper spray or perhaps a small tazer gun?" Papa said.

"I was actually thinking about getting one of those earlier today" I told him, "I've heard that this city is still dangerous"

"It is, but not like it used to be" Papa said.

Once lunch was over, I went up to my room and read a book, before it was time for dinner. I put on the black dress, Bruce had gotten me and put my hair up in a bun with a few strands hanging. I put on a pair of black flats and walked down to the foyer, where Papa and Bruce was waiting for me.

"You look beautiful, my little Lily" Papa complimented and I blushed slightly.

"Thanks" I said and glanced at Bruce who was wearing his usual clothes, a robe over a black shirt and sweat pants.

"Have fun" Bruce said smiling and I nodded.

Papa and I left the manor and left for the city in the black car that Papa had picked me up in yesterday.


	3. Chapter 3

**I Do Not Own Batman or anything else, except my OC(s)!**

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"So what have you been up to in New York?" Papa asked me as we waited for our food to arrive.

"Going to school mostly, but I had been taking a self defense class. Never know when that might come in handy" I told him and took a sip of my lemon water.

Papa nodded and seemed glad that I was able to take care of myself, but still he wanted to get me a can of mace or a tazer.

The waiter came into view holding a tray of food. I smiled as the delicious streak, little red potatoes with fresh cut chives on top and the fresh steamed vegetables was placed in front of me. I thanked the man, before cutting a piece of steak and placing it in my mouth.

It felt like heaven as the spices from the juicy meat filled my mouth with flavor. I smiled wide as I tried the potatoes and chives.

"I see that you're enjoying your meal" Papa said and I nodded.

"Yes I am. It's very delicious. I feel bad thought, for leaving Bruce all alone in his mansion eating leftovers from last nights dinner" I said frowning a bit.

"He will be fine, plus I made something for him before we left" Papa said and I nodded, but still felt bad for leaving him all alone.

I continued to eat my food and when we finished we left the restaurant. Papa drove back to the manor and we were greeted by Bruce who was heading for the staircase.

"So what did you think?" He asked me as I helped him up the stairs.

"About the restaurant or talking to Papa?" I asked him.

"Both" He said.

"The food and décor of the restaurant was amazing and talking with Papa had been even better then the restaurant!" I told him and he smiled.

"Well I'm happy to hear that" He said as we made it to the top of the stairs.

"Need any help getting to your room?" I asked him and he shook his head.

I nodded my head.

"Well goodnight, and I hope you have sweet dreams" Bruce said before walking towards the door that lead to the always locked wing of the manor.

I let out sigh after seeing the door shut. I wished the old Bruce would come back, but ever since Rachel, a woman who he loved was killed eight years ago, he hasn't been the same.

I walked to my room locking the door behind me. I quickly changed out of my dress and turned to my closet. I looked through it and found the perfect thing for me to wear. It was an old Halloween costume I had. It was a black cloak and a tight black leather suit that went down to my ankle and wrists. Before changing into the outfit I painted a yellow bat symbol on it. I let it dry, before putting the outfit on. I was a little tight, but it would do for now until I can find something better. I then grabbed the plain black eye domino mask and put it over my face. I smiled as I got my bed sheet and blanket off of my bed and tied them together. I then securely tied them to the bed post and tossed the makeshift rope out of the window. I climbed down the rope and took off running to the garage. I got into the red camero and drove off to the city. I had some people to save.

I parked the car and walked away. I climbed a pipe leading to a roof top, so I could see if anything was going on. For awhile I hadn't heard or seen anything, until I heard a man grunt in pain and manics laugh. I quickly looked around and stopped when I saw a round man with a pointed nose pointing an umbrella at a man on the ground.

"This is what happens when you cross the Penguin" The round man said and the man's umbrella shot a bullet from it killing the man.

I gasped and jumped down to the fire escape as the man waddled away whistling a tune that I had never heard before. I jumped down off of the ladder and ran to the hurt man. He was gasping and covered in blood from the shot wound in his gut.

"It's going to be alright" I told him, "Now who was the man that shot you?"

The man looked at me and the word Penguin left his lips before he stopped breathing. I closed my eyes the night of my parents death replayed quickly through my head. I shook my head and stood when I heard police sirens. I looked around and saw a police car stop near by with two police officer. I climbed the ladder quickly and watched the two officers get out of the vehicle. They were both men around their late twenties maybe early thirties. One was blonde and the other had short black hair and more handsome looking. They walked over toward the dead man with their guns out.

The blonde one checked the man's pulse and shook his head at his partner.

"He's dead" The officer informed him as he stood up, "We better call it in"

"You do that, the killer shouldn't have gotten far" The black haired officer told him partner and began to walk through the alley way.

"You can't go after him yourself, Blake! It's too dangerous!" The blonde told him.

Blake stopped and turned to the other man.

"I know it's dangerous, but if we don't go after him now that killer will get away and kill more people" Blake told him and continued on.

"It's won't be my fault if you're found dead!" The man shouted as Blake continued onward.

I climbed the fire escape, until I reached the roof top. I followed Blake as he made his way through the alleyway. I looked ahead and saw the round man stop for a moment as he placed a gloved hand to his face. A high pitch whistle filled the air and men in black and white tuxedo crawled out of a man hole near by.

"Seems like we have a follower boys" The man grunted before walking over to the man hole.

Officer Blake stopped and raised his gun at the tuxedo men.

"You are under arrest!" He shouted and the men laughed at him.

"And who do you think you are boy?" The round man asked chuckling.

"The man who's going to put you behind bars. Now raise your hands!" He shouted and jumped down as a tuxedo man walked up behind Blake.

I jumped down, swung the man around, and punched him hard in the face. I a heard a sickening crunch from his nose as my fist made contact. He dropped to the ground unconscious. The round man, Officer Blake and the other tuxedo men looked at me with wide eyes.

"Uh, thanks" Officer Blake said and I nodded.

"So this is the Batgirl that they have been talking about on the news. Hm, you are much prettier than I had thought you would be" The round man said with a sickening smile and I grimaced.

"Give up now and save yourself a beating or you'll never wished your mother gave birth to you" I said in a low voice.

The man laughed and held his gut. Officer Blake and I watched him spat on the ground and glared at us.

"You think you can take on me, the Penguin!? Ha you're wrong!" the round man known as the Penguin laughed hatefully towards us, "Get 'em boys!"

The tuxedo men ran at us, Officer Blake shot at a few hitting some in the leg or arm making them fall to the ground. I punched, kicked and flipped a few as we fought the Penguin goons. I ran at a wall as three of the tuxedo men chased after me. I ran up the wall, did a flip and punched, kicked and slammed the men to the ground knocking them out.

"He, he. Seems like the little bat and cop can fight. Let's go boys! I don't want the rest of you all to get hurt for tomorrow's big show!" The Penguin said as the rest of the men which was around five, stopped trying to fight us.

One of the goons quickly pushed me into the officer making us fall to the ground as they made their escape through the man hole. I got up and tried to go after them, but the Penguin shot his umbrella gun at me. I dodged it long enough to get scraped in the arm. I hissed and held the wound.

"Great!" I hissed as I stood up from where I had fallen from the shot.

"Are you okay?" Officer Blake asked me.

I turned and nodded.

"It's just a scrape nothing too serious" I told him in my low voice and began to make my way over to the fire escape.

"Thank you for saving me back there" Officer Blake said and I nodded my welcome, before grabbing the ladder.

"Hey! Wait!" Blake shouted, I let go of it and looked at him waiting for him to continue.

"You do know I'm suppose to arrest you, right?" He asked and I smirked at that.

"I know, and what's stopping you, Officer?" I asked him tilting my head to the left a little.

"You saved me back there, and you're one of the good guys" He said, "Call me John"

I nodded my head at him and smiled.

"Goodbye, John and thank you" I said and began to climb up the ladder.

On the rooftop I ran away to where I parked the camero. I got in and drove back to Wayne manor. I parked the car and quickly snuck into my room. I quickly change into my pajamas and un-did the rope. I walked out of my room, holding my bloody hurt arm as I made my way quickly to the bathroom. I found a first-aid kit in the bathroom and cleaned my wound and arm, before placing a bandage over the cut. I cleaned the bathroom, which was a little dirty from the blood and stuff. Once I was finished, I snuck back to my room and laid down in my bed falling asleep instantly.


	4. Chapter 4

**I Do Not Own Batman or anything else, except my OC(s)!**

* * *

The pain in my arm woke me up the next morning. I let out a groan after seeing what time it was. 1:00 pm. Had I really slept in that long?

I got out of my bed looked down at my arm. Some blood had soaked through the bandage. I glanced at the sheets and saw some of the blood on there. Just great! How am I going to explain to Papa about the blood when he has to wash them?

I stood up and walked over to my closet, I grabbed a long sleeve shirt and a pair of sweat pants. I changed out of my pajamas and pulled the bed sheet off. I walked out of my room carrying the sheet into the laundry room. Papa wasn't in there so I threw the sheet into the washer and left them for the bathroom. After using the bathroom, taking a shower and changing the bandage I made my way down to the kitchen for a bowl of cereal.

"I see you're finally awake" Papa said cheerfully.

"Yeah, I guess I was super tired yesterday" I told him as I got a bowl from a cabinet.

"Seems so" Papa said as he handed me a box of my favorite cereal coco-puffs.

I thanked him and pour the round crunchy chocolate bits into the bowl. After pouring the milk and grabbing a spoon, I sat at the table as Papa turned the news on.

_"It appears to be that Batgirl has been sighted once again and she's been busy!" _A woman said, _"Here is Karen with the story of how the new cap crusader helped an officer fight off a group of men wearing tuxedos"_

The screen switched to a woman standing in front of the alley from last night. She told the story of what had happened, showing a picture of Officer John on the screen and sketch of a girl with a black hoodie on next to him. When the woman was finished it went onto the weather.

I ignored the rest as I at my cereal and Papa had left the kitchen to see if Bruce wanted anything. When I was finished eating I cleaned the bowl and spoon, then left the kitchen to the library to check out what books Bruce had.

About an hour being up in the library, I decided to go into Gotham and check out the city, maybe get use to the layout of it also. I told Papa that I was leaving and he nodded his head. I smiled and walked out of the manor and got into the camero.

In the city I parked the car and walked around looking at alleys, and man holes. The Penguin had used one last night in his escape maybe his hide out is in the sewers. I will have to check that out tonight, I thought to myself as I walked past one as I headed towards a diner. I needed a good cup of coffee. I may had slept in, but I was still a little tired.

The ding from a bell attached to the door of the diner made my presences known. I smiled at the people who looked over at me, as I walked towards the counter where a waitress was at. The woman, or should I say girl, couldn't be no older then sixteen. She had short ginger hair, pale skin with freckles going over nose and cheeks.

"Hello, how can I help you?" The girl asked.

"A cup of coffee, black" I told her and she nodded writing it down on a notepad.

The girl turned around and began to pour the rich dark caffeine filled liquid into a dark blue mug. I smiled seeing the warm steam fly up into the air. She turned back around with the blue mug and set it down in front of me.

"Would you like anything else, Ma'am? A muffin, or perhaps a sandwich?" The younger girl asked me.

"Maybe a muffin. Do you have blueberry?" I asked her and she nodded her head.

I smiled as she left to go retrieve it. She returned shortly after and handed me the slightly huge round blue berry muffin. I thanked her and she handed me the bill. I paid her and took a sip from the hot liquid. I smiled as the warmth traveled to my stomach as the ding from the bell notifying everyone that someone had arrived. Curiously wondering who had shown up, I turned to see two cops and it wasn't just any two cops, but the two from last night. Officer John and his partner. Ross I believe the woman from the news had said earlier.

The two police men walked over to the counter and took the two stools next to me. The younger waitress walked over to them with a smile on her face.

"Hello Megan, how are you today?" John asked the young girl.

"I'm doing good, John. I heard about what happened last night, was it true about Batgirl? Did she really save you?" The younger girl asked.

"Yeah she did" John said nodding his head with a small smile.

"I wouldn't be proud to admit that a teenage girl had saved a fully trained cop from one man, Blake" Ross chuckled.

I rolled my eyes as I sipped my coffee.

"I'm not a shame, because if she hadn't I might be dead right now, and who cares if she's a teenager" John said.

"What makes you think she's a teenager?" I asked the two men as I looked at them, "She sounds like a fully grown woman taking on those men like that"

"Well no one really knows what she looks like and when she first appeared, she was wearing a hoodie like a teenager" Ross said shrugging his shoulders.

"I see adults wear hoodies all the time, maybe her suit was at the dry cleaners?" I joked laughing a little.

John and the waitress laughed a little at that, while Ross rolled his eyes.

"Can we have two coffees to go. One black and the other with cream and sugar" Ross grumbled.

Megan nodded her head before turning around to the coffee machine.

"Are you new in town?" John asked turning slightly towards me.

"Yes, I just got here the other day" I told him.

"Well then, welcome to Gotham. I'm John Blake" John said and held out his hand.

I shook his hand and let go.

"Thank you for welcoming me, I'm Lily Smith" I told him smiling.

"Let's go, John. We have to find a Penguin and a Bat" Ross said holding a cup of coffee.

"Right, well it was nice meeting you, Lily. I hope we will run into each other soon" John said smiling.

"As long as it has nothing to do with me going to jail" I laughed.

"I hope not" He laughed as he grabbed his coffee.

"Bye, John" I said as he left the diner with Ross.

I shook my head smiling as I sipped my coffee. He was a handsome man, I'm glad I saved him now, I thought as I finished my muffin off with a bite. I drunk the rest of my coffee and left Megan a ten dollar tip. Yes, I know a little to much for just a coffee and muffin, but she seemed like she needed it. I left the diner and walked around the city for an hour, before taking a break in the park. I watched people jog by and laughed a few times seeing a small group of children chase after one another playing Batman and Villains. Seems like children are still looking up to the mask figure man, even if people around here see him as a villain. Over the last few years, I have been a fan of the bat costume wearing hero of Gotham. I did not believe the story about him killing those cops and the DA, Harvey Dent. It had to have been the Joker or someone else! If it was Batman then Hell has defiantly frozen over!

"Excuse me! Ms. I'm to good for a scientist job! Well I don't care about your insane idea about a device that will show 3-d images of the mind! She may say that now! But she won't be soon!" A man shouted angrily as he walked through the park.

I watched him head over towards the bench I sat on. I bit my lip, a little bad habit of mine that picked up over the years. Maybe he will past it? Hopefully! But my thoughts were answered shortly with an answer I wasn't looking for. The angry man sat down next to me huffing as he glared at everyone around.

My nose began to itch as I tried to hold in a sneeze, but couldn't and quickly raised my hand to cover it. I hope I'm not getting sick! I thought to myself, until the man next to me turned quickly, making me look at him. He was tall around 5'8, short dark brown slicked back hair, and I believe he had green eyes.

"Bless you" The man said raising a tissue for me to take.

"Thank you" I told him as I took the tissue and wiped my nose and hands.

"You're welcome. I'm Erik Nolton, one of the many scientist of the Wayne Enterprises science facility" The man said and I nodded my head.

"Ah, I heard about Bruce having a facility like that made about ten years ago, but never heard anything else about it. How is the place doing?" I asked him trying to have a small conversation.

It seemed like Erik was over what ever he was ranting about earlier.

"Oh ya know it's doing well I guess, but some of it's not doing so good. Like my boss! She thinks all of my ideas are insane! And that I should be locked up in Arkham!" Erik said waving his hand around.

"I'm sure not all of your ideas are insane" I assured him, just to make sure he wouldn't go off again like he had earlier, and I had to agree with his boss about the device that would show 3-d images of what's going through your mind. It does sound insane!

"Yeah some of them aren't like this one device I thought of. I call it the Cut O'tron 2. I had little problem with the first one, but the second is much better!" He said.

"Hm, so what does the Cut O'tron 2 do?" I asked him.

Erik grinned and excitement filled his eyes.

"The Cut O'tron 2 cuts any pet with fur. It will also clean up the hairy mess, so the owners won't have too! It will be easy and plus the animals will love it! So no troubles for them!" Erik explain happily and I nodded.

"Hm, it sounds like a wonderful idea. If I had a pet, and it needed a hair cut, I would use the Cut O'tron 2" I told him with a small smile.

In truth I would never make my pet, if I had one, get a hair cut. They don't like it and it's waste of money, because the hair will grow back.

"Really? Wow! No one has ever said anything like that about it. They just laughed in my face and walked off. What's your name again?" Erik asked me smiling wide.

"Um, it's Lily Smith" I told him and he nodded his head.

"It's great to meet you, my beautiful Lily" Erik said with a creepy look in his eyes.

I nodded and looked at the watch on my wrist. I held in a hiss from the shot of pain coming from the wound on my arm as I looked at the time. 4:00. Hm, it felt later than that. I looked back at Erik who was watching me.

"Would you look at that. It's 4:00 o'clock. I'm suppose to be home soon, my Grandfather he's um," I paused for a moment trying to think up something, "He's not been feeling well lately and he has this doctor appointment soon. So I have to go and get him to his appointment. It was nice meeting you Erik, I wish you luck with your job and inventions"

I stood up as did Erik. I looked at as he opened his mouth to speak.

"Yeah, it was great meeting you, Lily. Um, could I have your number. We could go get coffee one day or you know, I could show you some of my stuff" Erik said and nodded taking his cell phone that he was holding out for me.

"Sure, but I don't have a cell phone, yet and this number belongs to the owner of the house I'm staying at" I told him as I typed in Bruce's number. I hope this wasn't a bad idea, and that Bruce wouldn't get mad about it.

"It's okay, who's the owner? Just in case he answers it, I'd know" Erik said and giggled a little at what he had just said.

I'm pretty sure, Bruce has never answer the phone at Wayne Manor without Papa to answer it first.

"It's um, Bruce Wayne" I told him.

Erik's eyes went wide for a moment.

"No way! The Bruce Wayne!? You live with him!?" Erik asked.

"For now, I might move out get my own place, but yes I do. He's like an older brother though" I told him quickly before he got any idea about me and Bruce being together.

"Oh" A look of relief crossed his face, "I just can't believe it! I have Bruce Wayne's number! He's like my idol and everything!"

I nodded my head and looked at my watch again. I was so going to regret giving him the number now.

"Well I best get going. Bye, Erik" I said and left the park quickly.

I walked through the crowd and towards the parking place I parked the camero. I let out a groan seeing a towing truck towing it away.

"Oh come on!" I muttered to myself as I ran over to the man who was standing next to the truck.

"Um, excuse me, sir, but that's my car!" I told him.

The man looked at me and shrugged his shoulders.

"So, you didn't pay the meter after it ran out of time" The man said and walked to the front of the truck.

The man got into the truck and drove away with the camero. I looked up at the sky and groaned.

"Bruce is so going to kill me now" I said.

"Bruce? As in Bruce Wayne?" The very familiar voice of Officer John asked.

I looked away from the sky and looked around. I didn't see him any where.

"Behind you" He said laughing.

I laughed and turned around seeing the officer in surprisingly street clothes. He wore a t-shirt and jeans.

"Wow, I dig the street look, and yes, as in Bruce Wayne" I told him laughing at myself.

"And I dig the winter look in fall. So why would Bruce Wayne would want to kill you?" John asked me.

"Because I most likely gave his phone number to a psycho and got his camero towed away. And it hasn't even been hour" I told him shaking my head.

"Hm, I see now why he would" John said nodding his head and I couldn't help, but giggle at him, "So it seems that you need a ride home"

"It seems so. Does a taxi drive to Wayne Manor?" I asked him.

"I believe so, but you can save your money, and I'll drive ya" John offered.

I bit my lip and thought for a moment.

"Okay, but you promise me, you're not taking me to jail for sneezing in the park earlier!" I joked with him.

He laughed and shook his head.

"No, I won't if you promise me it won't happen again" He said pointing a finger at me.

"Won't happen again, Officer" I laughed raising my hands up.

John laughed and walked over to a nice looking _1996 Chevy Impala_.

"Nice car. _1996 Chevy Impala_?" I asked walking over to the car.

"Yeah, how did you know?" John asked as we got into the car.

I smiled a sad smile as I looked at the dash board area.

"My Father had one, when I was young" I told him.

"He sold it?" He asked and shook my head no.

"No, he, um, died" I told him.

"Oh, I'm sorry for your lost and for bringing up the subject" He said and I nodded my head.

Not continuing the conversation, John started the car and drove out of the parking lot. He turned the radio on and drove to Wayne Manor. Once arriving at the manor, I thanked John and got out of the car. He nodded and got out of the car also.

"Walking me to the door?" I asked raising an eyebrow as we walked to the front door.

"Yeah, I couldn't let you walk all alone to front door. What if you needed saving?" He asked me and I laughed a bit, remembering last night.

"Yes, maybe Batgirl can drop by to save us both" I joked and surprisingly John laughed also.

"Yeah, maybe" John laughed as we stopped in front of the door.

"Well thank you for the ride and walking me to the door" I told him smiling.

"You're welcome" He said smiling.

The door to the manor opened up and Papa was looking at the both of us with a raised eyebrow.

"Hello" John said to Papa.

"Hello, can I help you?" He asked in a stern voice as he looked John up and down.

"Papa, this is John. He gave me a ride home and was kind enough to walk me to the door. John this is my Grandfather, Alfred" I told them both.

"What happened to the Camero?" Papa asked worriedly.

"It got towed away" I told him biting my lip as I was most likely to get chewed out.

Papa shook his head and laughed a bit.

"Oh thank goodness. I thought you might had wrecked it" Papa said.

"Yes, well thank you again, John. It was nice running into you again" I said smiling at him and he nodded.

"Yeah, and it didn't have anything to do with being arrested" John laughed.

"Yes, that's true" I told him and I could hear the phone ring in the back ground.

Papa left to answer, but appeared a few minutes later. By that time, John was walking to his car.

"There is a man on the phone asking for you. A Mr. Erik Nolton" Papa said and I let out a groan, before walking into the manor.


	5. Chapter 5

**I Do Not Own Batman or anything else, except my OC(s)!**

* * *

Picking up the phone I could hear the sound of metal items hitting the floor.

"Hello?" I asked as more sounds of metal hit the ground.

"Hey, my tiger-lily!" Erik said cheerfully and I felt a little creeped out by his nickname for me, "I was just wondering if you would like to come to the facility tomorrow and check out the Cut O'tron 2?"

I bit my lips as I tried to think of something to decline his offer kindly.

"Tomorrow? Darn, I have this thing tomorrow with my Grandfather. He likes to go cave diving, and I hate it when he goes alone, especially when he's sick. So I'll be with him tomorrow all day, maybe some other time?" I told him as Papa watched me with an eyebrow raised.

"I'll explain later" I mouthed and he nodded.

"Oh, darn it, I guess we'll have to reschedule then. Well bye" Erik said and hung up.

I shook my head and looked at Papa.

"Who was that?" He asked me.

"Some weird guy I met at the park earlier. He works at the Wayne Scientist facility and he wants me to go there and check out this pet hair cutting device he made" I told him and Papa nodded.

"How did he get this number?" Papa asked.

"I gave it to him, but I wasn't really expecting him to call" I told him.

"Could have given him a fake number" Papa said as we walked to the living room.

"Yeah, but I couldn't think up one at the time" I told him and he chuckled.

"Well I have to go do laundry, then start fixing dinner. If you need anything just call" Papa said before walking out of the living room.

"Do you need any help? I can do the laundry or cook dinner" I offered and Papa shook his head no.

I frowned and watched Papa go upstairs to do the laundry. Once he was out of sight I walked to the kitchen and started on dinner. Lasagna and garlic bread. After putting the lasagna in the oven to bake, Papa walked into the kitchen with wide eyes from seeing me making the garlic bread.

"Thought I should get off my lazy behind and help fix dinner. I hope lasagna and garlic bread is good" I said smiling as I placed the piece of bread on a pan.

"Yes, it's fine. I can take over now, if you'd like" Papa said and shook my head.

"Nah, you go and rest. I'm sure you need a break once in a while" I told him.

Papa chuckled, nodded his head and left the kitchen, while I fixed another slice of bread. After two hours, dinner was ready. Papa and I sat in the kitchen eating, while Bruce was up in his room. Papa told me he was having a bad day. Once we were done eating, Papa got up to take Bruce his tray of food, but I told him I could do it. Papa thanked me and went to wash dishes. I was about to tell him, I could wash those once I give Bruce his food, but Papa gave a stern look.

I nodded my head and left the kitchen. I walked up the stairs with the tray. I stopped in front of the locked door that lead to the east wing. I took the key, that Papa gave me and unlocked the door. I walked into the wing. I walked through the darken hallway and looked around for any sign of Bruce. I heard the sound of his cane and turned around to see him hiding in the shadow. I tilted my head as I looked at him.

"Trying to scare me?" I asked him as he walked out of the shadows slightly surprised.

"Uh, no, I th-thought you were someone else" Bruce said looking down, "Is that dinner?".

I nodded as I set it down on a table near by.

"Lasagna and garlic bread. Hope you like it. Papa did" I told him smiling.

"It's one of my favorite meals" Bruce said as he walked over to the table.

He began to eat and stopped for a moment.

"Did you make this?" He asked me and I nodded, "It's delicious"

"Thank you" I said with a small smile.

I left the wing letting Bruce eat his meal in piece. As I made my way to the door I stopped after seeing the row of pictures. There was a picture of a woman. A woman had met a few times over the years when I had visted Bruce over the years, all until she died. I frowned and saw that the next picture was older, torn in half and burnt. It was a picture of his parents. I glanced back at Bruce who was still eating his food. I smiled saddly before leaving the wing. I locked the door behind me and back down to the kitchen, where I cleaned the dishes.

When I was done, I ran into Papa, and told him I was going to bed. He wished me goodnight and I walked up to my room, where I put my Batgirl outfit on. I snuck out of my room and took one of Bruce's speed bikes. I rode to the city and parked the bike as I heard screaming and gun fire near a building. I got off the bike and looked around quickly.

I saw people running out of a bank. I ran to the back of the building for an exit door or maybe a window I could sneak into, I found a window and snuck into the bank. I could hear the laughter of the Penguin and the sound of a gun going off. I ran quickly to main part of the bank and saw him holding umbrella towards a man in a suit. I quickly jumped behind a counter and watched him.

"So tell me Mr. Jones, where are the golden bars? I know they're here!" The Penguin shouted at him.

"I-I don't know! I don't know where they are!" He cried.

"Hm, too bad" The Penguin said frowning and was about to pull the trigger of his umbrella gun, when the front door of the bank opened and two of his tuxedo men came in dragging someone with them.

The Penguin looked up from the man and growled at the two tuxedo men.

"Did you find him?" The Penguin asked the two.

The two men threw the tied man down in front of him. My eyes went wide as I saw Officer John groan as he rolled onto his side.

"Yeah, he put up a good fight. Knocked Freezer out" One of the men said.

"Hm, well then. What should I do with him?" The Penguin asked more to himself as he made his way over to John.

"Let him go, Penguin!" I shouted jumping out from behind the counter.

The Penguin laughed as he saw me.

"I've been expecting you, Batgirl" He laughed and I heard movement from behind me.

I turned around and fell backwards as a man punched me in the gut. I grabbed my stomach and coughed a little. I growled and got up from the ground. I punched and kicked the man in the gut making him fly backwards into the wall. I turned back to the Penguin and glared at him.

"What do you want Penguin?" I asked him.

"Justice" He hissed, "Justice for the way I am! And the way people of Gotham has treated me as a freak of nature!"

The Penguin raised his hands showing no fingers just fins. I felt a little bad for the guy. He must had been picked on a lot as a kid, and the anger he had gotten growing up, turned him into this.

"I know you're angry at the people who have hurt you, but you shouldn't let things like that get to you" I said as I catiously walked over towards John, who had mange to get to his knees.

"Why should I listen to you? You have no idea how much pain I have felt! You and people like him they always look down on me and call me monster!" The Penguin growled pointing his umbrella at John's head.

I stopped walking and gulped. I wished I had some type of weapon like Batman did! I looked around for anything that might be able to help me, but found none.

"Penguin, killing him will do nothing, but fuel that hatred for people! Let the cop go" I told him.

The Penguin moved his umbrella away from John's head and at me. I froze and took a deep breath.

"You're right, but killing you might help" He said and fired his gun.

I jumped out of the way and heard a grunt before something hitting the ground. I glanced behind me to see the man that had attacked me earlier dead. The Penguin growled and aimed his umbrella at me, when all of a sudden John get's up and knocks the Penguin down with his shoulder. I ran over to the Penguin and lift John up.

"You'll pay for that" The Penguin growled as he glared at us.

"Not if you're under arrest" I said grabbing a set of handcuff's from John's belt.

I bent down and was about to put them around the Penguin's wrist when an explosion happened throwing John and I away from the Penguin.

I let out a groan as the Penguin stood up laughing. He waddled over to the giant hole in the ground and turned towards us.

"Seems like it's time for me to leave" The Penguin laughed, "This isn't over Batgirl and cop" and then he jumped into the hole with the rest of his men.

I sat up and glared at the hole for a moment before turning my attention to John.

"You okay?" I asked him.

He let out a groan and sat up.

"Yeah, I'm fine" He said.

"That was a stupid thing you did back there" I told him and he laughed.

"Yeah, but I did save you" He pointed out.

I stood up and looked down at John with a small smile on my lips.

"It seems so" I said and helped him stand.

I tied the ropes around his wrist.

"Thanks" He said and I nodded my welcome before turning away from him to leave.

"Batgirl" He said and I turned around to see what he wanted.

His hand reached out towards my mask. Before he could reach my mask I kicked his feet out from under him causing him to fall to the ground. I sat on his stomach and pinned both his hands above his head.

"Sorry, but can't let you see what's under the mask" I told him in my low voice as I moved my face above his.

"Why? Afraid to show who you really are?" He asked and I shuddered feeling his warm breath on my cheeks.

"No, to protect the ones I love" I told him and quickly got off of him.

I stood up and ran towards the window I had came through earlier. I jumped out of it and ran for the bike. I hopped onto it and rode quickly through the empty streets of Gotham back to Wayne Manor. I drove into the garage and placed the bike where I had gotten it from. Leaving the garage I ran to were the make shift rope was hanging from my window. I quickly climbed up it and through my window. I fell to the ground after my foot got caught on the window still. I let out a groan as I stood up.

I sat on my bed and took my mask off, before taking my suit off. I quickly slipped on a tank top and a pair of sweat pants. I laid down on my bed and closed my eyes wondering why the Penguin was wanting to know about some gold bricks and I couldn't help, but wonder about John. The Penguin was after him now. I had to keep an eye on him somehow.


	6. Chapter 6

**I Do Not Own Batman or anything else, except my OC(s)!**

* * *

The feeling of falling made me jolt awake. I sat up in my bed and placed my hand over my beating heart, before looking at the digital clock on the table next to my bed. 1:00. I let out a groan as my sore muscles ached as I got out of my bed. I grabbed some clean clothes before heading to the bathroom for a much needed warm relaxing shower.

Once I was finished getting ready for the day I walked down to the kitchen for a bowl of cereal.

"I see the dead has awoken" Papa joked as he walked into the kitchen with the news paper in his hand as I finished my cereal.

"Anything interesting in the paper?" I asked him.

"Not really, except that one man calling himself the Penguin tried to rob a bank, but Batgirl showed up and stopped him, but he escaped, and also there was a suicide, but the police are saying it might actually be a murder, close by the science facility late last night" Papa said as he laid the paper down on the table.

"Really? Who was the person that was killed?" I asked him as I got up from the table.

"A Miss Karen Jones, she was the manager of the proto-type division at the facility" Papa said as I cleaned my bowl and spoon.

Proto-type division? Wasn't that where Erik worked at?

"I hope the police or Batgirl can catch the killer" I said as I turned the water off.

"I do too, but until they do I want you to carry these around" Papa said putting a tazer gun and can of mace on the table.

I walked over to the table and picked up the can and tazer.

"Thank you, Papa. I've been meaning to get one of these, but it's been slipping my mind every time I'm in the city" I told him.

Papa nodded his head, as I glanced at the clock on the wall. It was 1:45. Hm, what am I going to do for the day? Maybe I can go into Gotham and check on John since the Penguin was after him now, and I might be able to check out the science facility to see if I could find anything about that suicide or murder.

"Well I'm going into town. Need anything while I'm gone?" I asked Papa.

He shook his head and I nodded before leaving the manor. I walked into the garage to see the red camaro sitting in it's spot. I walked over to the red beauty to see a note in the window from Bruce.

_Lily, _

_Try not to get it towed again._

_Bruce_

I rolled my eyes at the note with a smile on my face as I threw it in a trash can. I got into the camaro and drove to the city of Gotham. As I drove through the city of Gotham I wondered where I would be able to find John at. Maybe he's at that diner like the last time I had seen him. So I drove to the diner to be surprised that he and his partner was getting out of police car that was parked in the parking lot. I parked the camaro a few empty spaces from the police car and got out.

I walked into the diner and saw that he and his partner was at the counter talking to a different and older waitress then the last one, Megan. I smiled at the waitress who greeted me as I took the seat next to John.

"Hello, how can I help you, sugar?" She asked in forced sweet voice.

"Hi, um can I have a cheese burger with ketchup and a side of fries with a coke?" I asked her and she nodded her head writing my order down on a pad of paper.

"Hey, Lily" John said after the waitress went to give my order to the cook.

"Hey, John" I said smiling at him.

"Seems like you have a stalker, Johnny boy" Ross joked teasingly.

"Don't call me that" John muttered at his partner with a small blush on his cheek.

"It seems that Ross has caught onto me" I joked with a giggle escaping.

"Yeah, it seems he has" John smiled at me.

"So anything police exciting yesterday?" I asked him as I waited for my food.

"Nothing really, except that I was saved by Batgirl again" He said shrugging his shoulder.

"Hm, once again Batgirl saves the day. I wonder who she is?" I said looking at him.

Before John could answer the waitress placed a plate in front of John and Ross with a glass of coke. She turned to me and told me that my food will be done shortly and I nodded as John and Ross began to eat their food. I let a sigh out through my nose as I looked around and out the window at the street across from the diner. I noticed that there was a man watching the diner. It wouldn't had been strange if he wasn't wearing a black and white tuxedo. So Penguin was keeping an eye on John. That wasn't good. I got out off my seat and placed my food on the counter.

"Where are you going? You're food isn't done?" John asked with a confused look on his face.

"Um, I have to go get something out of my car, I'll be back soon" I told him and ran out of the diner.

I pulled the black hoodie on top of my head and covered my face as I walked away from the diner and over towards the road. I crossed the street quickly as the tuxedo man began to walk away. I followed him as he turned down an alley. He stopped at a dead end and bent down to open the man hole in front of him, before he could lift the metal lid up I ran at him and kicked him hard in the back making him fall to the ground.

I got out my tazer and held it his back and he stiffed. I smirked at this and moved my head next to his ear.

"Why are you watching that police man, John?" I asked him in a low voice.

"Because the boss wants us too" He said nervously, "Please don't kill me"

"Tell me what I want to know, and you won't have to worry about that" I told him threateningly.

Of course I wouldn't kill him, but he didn't need to know that.

"Alright, what do you want to know?" He asked.

"Why is the Penguin after him?" I asked.

"Because he figures he has the cop you come, plus the cop embarrassed him in front of us. Wants to make us see that he ain't lettin' no pig walk away alive" The man said and shook with fear.

"Thank you for telling me this" I said and hit hard on the head with the bottom of the tazer gun knocking him out.

The man dropped to the ground. I picked him up and placed an arm over my shoulder to make it seem like he was drunk and passed out. I walked out of the alley, and people were watching me.

"This is the last time I'm taking you to the bar mister" I grumbled as I dragged him across the street.

Upon hearing my words people quit watching me thinking that he was drunk and passed out. Reaching the diner I dropped the tuxedo man in front of the passenger side door of John and Ross's car. Hopefully John would notice the man worked for the Penguin. I left the parking lot once again and ran to the back of the diner where I took my hoodie off and walked back around the opposite side so if anyone was watching me couldn't tell that it was actually me. I walked over to the camaro and tossed the hoodie into the car before walking back to the dinner. I sat down to see my food and drink waiting for me.

"I see you didn't touch my food" I said smiling as I picked up a fry.

"Ross tried to, but I stopped him" John said and I smiled while chewing the salty food.

"Thank you, John" I said and picked up my burger.

"I'm a cop, I'm suppose to help people" He said and I nodded my head while I chewed my burger.

I swallowed my burger and was about to say something when someone came into the diner quickly. Everyone turned to the man who had wide eyes.

"Officers! You have to come out here and see this!" The man said before leaving the diner.

John and Ross looked at each other for a moment before leaving the diner. I followed after them as did half the diner. Everyone was surrounding the cop car, so I had to force my way through the small crowd.

"Who is that?" Ross asked John as he checked the man.

"One of the Penguin's men" John said as he stood up.

"Why is he here knocked out?" Ross asked him.

"I don't know, maybe it was Batgirl" John said shaking his head.

"Your other stalker?" Ross asked as he put handcuffs around the man's wrist.

"She isn't a stalker, Ross" John muttered as he opened the back seat door for Ross to put the man into the car.

"Whatever you say, John. Sounds like you have a crush on her" Ross muttered as he lifted the man up.

I looked over at John who had pink cheeks as he watched his partner put the man into the back of the car.

"I don't have a crush on her. She just happened to save my butt two times" John said defensively and I couldn't help, but add three silently in my head.

"Yeah, well we better get to the station and lock this guy up, so the chief can do whatever he wants" Ross said shutting the door.

John nodded and looked at the diner, then at me with a small smile.

"Well see ya later, Lily" He said before getting into the passenger side of the car.

Once John and Ross left, along with the small crowd of people who surrounded the area, I got into the camaro, not caring about my burger and fries I had left in the diner, I headed to the science facility to check it out.

Reaching the somewhat tall clear glass building I noticed not far from it a taped off area. That must had been where the murder or suicide had happened. I parked in the parking lot and walked over to the area to check it out, but was stopped by a police man who was watching the area. I frowned having to leave the area so I couldn't check for clues or anything, but then it hit me, what can I do with evidence? I don't have any equipment or stuff to check it all out.

I sat on a bench near by the facility and watched a few people walked by. What can I do to get some type of equipment that can analyze things or better weapons? I'm sure there must be a place that I could find. Then it hit me, Batman must had have a some sort of lair, maybe even a cave since he was dressed as a bat! Now where in Gotham are there caves? I knew that there were some caves near the manor, but it was unlikely that Batman would had build his hideout there, or could I be wrong? It wouldn't be to much trouble to check out would it? Nope and now I know what I will be doing after picking up some climbing equipment. Cave diving!

I couldn't help, but feel a little excited about later today. I got up and was about to leave to go buy the equipment, when I heard a man crying. I looked around and saw someone walking out of the science facility with his head down as he walked quickly with a box in his hands. The poor man must had been fired. I felt sorry for the man and walked over to him, upon getting closer to him, I noticed that it was Erik Nolton.

"Ah! My Lily" He said after looking up to see me walking over to him.

I put a smile on my face and waved.

"Hello, Erik. Are you okay?" I asked him.

"No, I've been here all day telling the main boss man upstairs about seeing my boss Mrs. Jones leave the building around eight last night" He said frowning.

"You were there?" I asked him and he nodded.

"Yes, I work on night shifts, since my boss didn't want me there during the day to scare away the workers with my 'insane' devices" He said and covered his face with his hand, "It's all my fault she is dead! I should had walked her to her car or something!" He cried.

I patted his shoulder in comfort. There was no way this man could kill Mrs. Jones, but who had done it? Maybe it was a random mugging. I'm sure that what it must had been.

"It's not your fault, Erik. No one could had seen it coming" I told him and he nodded.

"I know, and now that she is dead, the main boss wants to put me as the manager over the proto-type division! It is so much for me to take everything in so quickly!" He cried and I nodded my head as he swung the box a bit to make a more dramatic effect.

"Yes, it must be hard to process after not even a day since your boss had died to get promoted to her spot" I told him and he nodded his head.

"So what's in the box, Erik? Some devices of yours?" I asked him and he nodded.

"Yeah, but they're failed ones. I'm taking them home with me once I leave today" He said.

"Yes, well I better get going. I have to go buy a few things before going home, goodbye Erik" I said and left for the parked camaro.

I got into the car and drove away from the building. Driving through Gotham I noticed many shops, a few clothing stores, restaurants, a gun and self-defense store. I parked the car in front of the gun and self-defense store, maybe I could buy something that could help me fight off criminals. Walking into the store I was greeted by a tall muscular man who was bald with a dark blonde mustache. I smiled and greeted the man as I walked over to the counter he stood behind.

"Can I help you?" He asked and I nodded.

"Yes, I was wondering if you had anything that could be hidden and carried easily, but when using it" Before I could even finish my sentence the man cut me off.

"I think I have something you might like" He said and bent down under the counter.

He returned shortly with a small black stick.

"This here is sort of like a police baton, it may look harmless, but" The man swung the shot stick causing it to grow longer, "It's not. The price for it is 150 and we take cash only"

I smiled and got my wallet out. I paid the man and was given a small box with the weapon inside. I left the building and got into the camaro placing the box into the passenger seat. I started the car and went to continue my search for some type of store that sold cave-climbing equipment. It took me about thirty minutes of driving through Gotham and a little bit of asking people, but I finally managed to find a store.

I walked in quickly and bought what I needed. After I was sure of everything that I had gotten, I left for the manor. I was greeted by Papa who questioned the few bags I was carrying and I simply told him I was thinking about cave diving later today. He didn't like the idea of me being alone in caves, but I told him I was trained by a professional that I had dated during my sophomore year of collage.

"Okay, but due be careful" He said and I nodded my head.

I walked up to my room and quickly put the baton with my outfit that I hid in my dresser. I then sorted out the equipment and put it in the duffel bag that I had bought also. I then changed into a pair of jeans and a shirt that I didn't mind ruining, if it had to be. I left my room with the duffel bag and went down to the living room to see Papa watching the history channel. I clear my throat making him stand from his seat quickly and turned to me.

"Sorry to disturb you, Papa, but I'm going to go cave diving and I should be back around" I paused for a moment looking at the grandfather clock in the corner of the room, the time now was 4:35, "Around six maybe sooner" and Papa nodded his head, told me to be careful once more and then I left for the garage.

I got onto the black motorcycle from last night and rode it to where I remembered the cave entrance that Bruce had shown me years ago. I parked the bike a few feet away from the entrance and dropped the bag to the ground. I un-zipped it and put the equipment on, before climbing down into the cave.

Upon reaching the bottom I grabbing a flash light from the bag. I turned it on and nearly screamed seeing the bats swoop down at me. I covered my head with my arms as the rats with wings flew around me. When they were gone I stood up and saw nothing, but a pond of water and rocks. Could this be the Batcave? I thought to myself as I walked over to the pond. I stopped in front of it and flashed the light into the water. I touched it with my foot to see if there was some invisible platform, but there was none as I my foot went into the cold water.

I frowned and sat on a rock that was near by. When I get back to the manor I must check on the internet where the closest caves are located at near Gotham. Maybe I'll get lucky and find it. I thought sadly as I tossed a few little rocks into the pond. Plonk, plonk, plonk was the only sounds I heard from the rocks and drops of water hit in the cave floor, besides a few bats that were still around in the cave, until lights from above came on and the water in the pond began to shake. I stood up quickly shocked by the sudden movement, to see some kind of square black platform rise from the water.

"No way" I whispered as a computer, desk, chair, and a table rose from the square platform.

I quickly walked onto the platform. I smiled once I reached the table. I saw a few golden bat shaped throwing blades, a few other things like hooks, a grappling gun, something that looked like a grenade. I found it! I actually found Batman's cave!

I then turned to the computer and began to search it, but there were a few things that I could not access due to passwords and firewalls. However I did find out where the suit was and quickly pressed the button that said access to suit. The sound of something opening and rising made me turned to see a metal circular cage rise up with a black suit that had a v-cut around the chest part with the bat symbol. It was made out of some type of leather material. There was also a domino type-mask that had two points on the bottom that resembled the cave's pointed ceiling under the eye-holes **(AN: See cover to know what the mask looks like)** I walked over to the suit and looked at it. It looked to be around my size, height and everything.

I took the suit down and stuck it in my duffel bag, along with a few of the gold bats and a grappling gun. If I needed anything else, I could always come back later. After zipping the bag and looking around once more, I left the cave and rode back to the manor quickly to hide the stuff in my room. Papa had fallen asleep on the couch when I walked through. I set the duffel bag down gently and walked silently over to him with a blanket that I had gotten from a near by closet. I placed it over him and walked over to the duffel bag. I picked it up and quietly went up to my room and put away the things.

Once I was sure no one would be able to find the stuff and changed into a tank top and sweat pants, I walked down to the living room to check on Papa again. I smiled seeing him sleep peacefully as the channel from earlier still played quietly. Strange I wonder who had turned the volume down. I turned and walked towards the kitchen for a quick snack and nearly jumped seeing Bruce eating a bowl of cereal as he leaned against the counter wearing his usual attire. Robe and pajama bottoms.

"What?" He asked me with a chuckle as I walked into the room.

"Nothing, I wasn't expecting you to be in here is all" I told him and now understood how the television volume was turned down. Bruce must had come down to the kitchen after I had walked into my room.

"Right, so how was today? I heard you went cave diving? Found anything exciting?" He asked me and shook my head.

"Besides some pointy rocks, loads of bats and maybe a cold? Nope, nothing" I told him as I walked over to the fridge.

"Yeah, that all I had found also when I went cave diving what seems another life time ago" He said before taking another bite of cereal.

I nodded my head as I grabbed an apple. I shut the fridge door as I wiped the red delicious looking fruit. I took a bite out of the apple as I turned back to see Bruce set the bowl in the sink and ran water into it.

"Going back up to your room?" I asked him and he nodded.

"Care if I tag along?" I asked him.

"Come on" He said and I followed him up to the west wing eating my apple.


	7. Chapter 7

**I Do Not Own Batman or anything else, except my OC(s)!**

* * *

Once dinner was over I walked up to my room and got ready for the night. I put on the new suit. It was made of some sort of leather material, making it sort of cling to my body. The suit stopped right under the start of my neck with a v going down a few inches showing a little cleavage. I put the mask on my face and placed the bat blades in the golden belt around my waist along with the tazer and pepper spray. I then attached the grappling gun on the back with the baton on my side. I slid the black gloves on my hand and held them out. I nearly jumped when the black cape on my back followed the way my arms did making them look like bat wings.

"Cool" I breathed and stepped out onto the window sill.

Now that I had a way of flying, I didn't need to use my bad sheets as a rope. So praying silently I jumped from my window and glided to the ground. I stood up and ran to the garage to get the black motorcycle. I got on and drove quickly to Gotham.

Reaching the city I drove around a bit, until I saw a cop car with it's lights and siren on. I looked behind me to see that they were chasing _me_. I bit my lip as I drove faster trying to lose them, but they stayed on my tail, until drove down a dark alley with my lights turned off. I turned down another alley and drove out onto a different street. I hide the bike behind a garbage bin and climbed a fire escape to watch the city.

"Help!" I heard a woman scream.

I ran jumped to another roof to where the cry came from. I stopped at the edge and looked down to see a group of men surrounding a woman. It kind of reminded me of when I first had started out. It felt like it had been a long time ago, but really it's been only a few days. I jumped down from the roof and landed behind the men. I grabbed the baton and cleared my throat.

"Don't you know it's not polite to pick on women" I growled in a low voice.

The men turned and laughed at me. While they laughed the woman ran away. One of the men tried to go after her, but I hit him in the gut with the baton quickly making him fall to the ground coughing. I smirked as the other men glared at me.

"I'll give you a chance. Leave now and never harm anyone ever again, or" Before I could finish one of the man tried to punch me.

I dodge and punched him in the face.

"It's always the had way with you guys" I muttered to myself as the man stumbled backwards a bit and spat onto the ground.

He grinned and went at me again. I kicked him between the legs making him fall to the ground. I laughed and turned to the other men. There were about three others waiting for me to kick their butt. It was going to be a long night.

I fought the men quickly and climbed a fire escape that was close by. I ran along the roofs of buildings and apartments.

"Haha! Who's afraid of the little black bat?" I heard a man chuckle from one of the alleys.

I stopped and looked down to see a man wearing a green suit jacket, and pants along with a green hat with a black mask covering across his eyes. The man was all alone as he walked down the alley with a golden cane.

"I'm not afraid of some girl" A man said walked out of the shadow.

"Me neither" Another man said walking out of the shadows standing next to the other man.

They were both tall and must had been twins, because they had the same face and bald heads.

"Really now? And who might you two be?" The man in green asked.

"They call us the Clones" The two men said together, "Who are you?"

"Answer this question and I will tell you" The man grinned, "To unravel me you need a simple key. No key that was made by locksmith's hand. But a key that only I will understand"

Clone one and Clone two scratched their heads.

"Uh, is the answer a silver key?" Clone one asked.

"Nope" The man said shaking his head.

"A bone key?" Clone two asked.

"Nah ah" The man said shaking his head again.

Hm, it wasn't a real key he was talking about.

"A piano key?" Clone one asked.

"No! You bald idiot!" The man shouted angrily.

Someone was impatient to have someone figure out his riddle that he seemed to be the only one to understand. Wait, that's it! The answer to his riddle is a riddle!

"Then what is the answer boss?" Clone two asked oblivious not angered by the way that man had call him a bald idiot.

"Boss? Who said I was going to be your boss? And the answer to the riddle is a riddle you big dumb idiot!" The man shouted before walking away.

"I know the answer! It's a riddle boss!" Clone one shouted happily.

I rolled my eyes and shook my head. I was getting annoyed by the two men.

"Good job, you idiot!" The man grumbled.

"So who are you?" Clone one asked.

The man in green smiled and turned to the two men.

"Well they call me the Riddler! Now go back to whatever hole you two came from, I have things to destroy and a little bat to find" The Riddler said.

I took that as my cue to jump into the small party down below.

"Sorry boys, but I can't let you do that" I said and glided down to the men.

"Ah, I was wondering when I would get to meet you Batgirl" The Riddler said smiling.

"We'll take care of her boss, you get out of here and do what you need to do" Clone one told the Riddler as the two men stood in front of me.

I gulped and looked at the two tall muscular men. They were bigger than I had thought.

"I'm glad now that you two are idiots" The Riddler said before leaving quickly.

I smirked at the two giants hoping and praying that I could take them on without getting beaten up myself.

"So who's going down first?" I asked and before I knew I was in air flying backwards towards a wall.

I hit the stone wall and let out a groan. I was going to be really sore in the morning. I stood up and staggered a bit before I regained my footing. I glared at the two men and grabbed the baton from my side.

"I take it you both want to go down at the same time" I said and ran at the two men with my baton.

I jumped up and kicked one of them in the face while spinning around hitting the other in the back of the head with the baton hard as I could. The Clones turned to me with matching smirks like my hits had only tickled them. I took a breath before grabbing my can of pepper spray and sprayed both men in the eyes. They screamed covering their eyes with their hands while moving around.

I took my tazer off my belt and fired it at Clone one. He screamed and dropped to the ground out cold. I raised the tazer at Clone two and shot him making him do the same thing his twin had done. I put the tazer away and took out the grappling gun off my belt as police sirens were near by. Someone must had called in a noise complaint or they were still looking for me. I aimed the gun at a building and shot it. In a second I was flying up towards the roof. Reaching the top I put the gun away and took off running to find the Riddler.

Hours passed by and it seemed that the Riddler had gotten away. I let out a sigh as I sat on the ledge of an apartment building roof with my feet dangling to the street below. There had been no signs of the Riddler, or the Penguin in fact. I wonder who the Riddler was and what was his motive to become a villain. It was understandable how and why the Penguin had become a villain, but the Riddler? I needed to find him and stop him before he can do anything that could hurt the people of Gotham along with himself.

I stood up and figured it was time for me to head back to the Manor. It was almost day light. I jumped off the building and went to find the motorcycle. After finding the bike, I got on and drove out of the alley. As I rode a police car drove by me quickly with it's sirens blaring. I was about to speed up figuring they were after me, but stopped when I saw a bright flame cross the street hitting the police car making them explode. I tried to stop the bike in time, but couldn't so turned the bike sideways making it slide to a stop on the asphalt. How was I going to explain to Bruce how the scratches and dents got on his bike?

When the bike came to a stop I got up and ran to the two destroyed police car. Maybe and hopefully that the cops that were in there were okay. I looked inside and let out a sigh as I saw the burnt bodies of two. I ran to the other to make sure and it was the same like the other one. I shook my head and looked around for any sign as to what caused the fire to spread across the street. That's when I noticed that across both side of the street was a man hole. So it was the Penguin. I lifted up the lid and was about to jump down into the hole when another police car showed up. I turned around and raised my hand after hearing one of the officer shout at me to do so.

A smirk appeared on my lips after seeing who the two officers were, John and Ross, my two favorite cops. I lowered my arms to my side.

"The Penguin caused the two cars to explode. He's in the sewer, I can stop him if you let me go" I said in my low voice.

"Sorry, but we can't let you. You're under arrest" Ross said as he slowly walked over towards me.

I tilted my head a little to the side as he made his way over towards me.

"For what charges? I didn't hurt anyone" I told him as I glared at him.

"You're under arrest for being connected to the Batman" Ross said.

I shook my head at him and looked over at John. He was just watching us not saying one word or trying to stop his partner.

"Well do you have any proof that I'm connected to Batman?" I asked him.

"Your suit and equipment. Their just like his" Ross said.

"I'm sure Batman didn't wear a suit like that" John pointed out.

Ross let out a growl and turned to John quickly.

"Quiet Rookie" Ross said angrily.

Before Ross turned around I got out my grappling gun and shot it to the closest roof. I gave a salute to John before being dragged to the roof. I watched from where I was hidden Ross turn back around expecting to see me. I laughed into my hand as Ross threw his hat down onto the ground while kicking at it.

Ross then walked over to his car and called in what had happened, before walking over to one of the destroyed cars. I took that as my chance to jump from the building and sneak over to where my bike laid at. I rolled it to an alley quickly where I started it up and drove like a bat out of hell. I had to hide a few times as I headed back to the manor. I had hoped that I could have been able to go down into the sewer, but because of Ross I couldn't.


	8. Chapter 8

**I Do Not Own Batman or anything else, except my OC(s)!**

* * *

A month had passed and any signs of the Penguin had went silent, like he had some how vanished into thin air. Unlike the Penguin however, the Riddler had been showing a lot of signs. Almost every night. Robbing banks, killing cops who got in the way, and looking for some golden bars. I have a theory that the golden bars that the Riddler was looking for had to be the same ones the Penguin had been, but why were they looking for it and where were they?

During the month, when I wasn't looking for signs of the Penguin, or Riddler, or doing things around Gotham and the manor, I would go to the Batcave and try to crack the code on the computer, but I failed everytime. I searched the cave for anything and found a platform hidden under the cold water. I have no idea how to get the thing to rise up. There must be a way for it on the computer, but I have no way of knowing until I crack that code.

I shook my head from my thoughts as I folded some clothes in the laundry room while Papa cooked dinner. I tried to get him to take a break today and told him I would make dinner after folding the clothes and putting them away. Staying here and not helping with the cooking and cleaning made me feel like a bum. So every once in a while I catch Papa taking a nap or busy watching the history channel and cook dinner or clean something for him.

"Hey Alfred, can you... Oh! I'm sorry, Lily. I thought you were Alfred" Bruce said walking into the laundry room.

I laughed a bit as I folded one of his dark robes.

"It's alright, Bruce. Do you need anything cleaned?" I asked him.

Bruce nodded his head holding up a set of dirty clothes. I set the folded robe down in a basket that would be taken the west wing, and walked over to the Bruce to take the clothes. I set them down next to the washer to set them apart and wash them after I was done folding the rest of the clothes.

"Is that all?" I asked him as I grabbed a shirt.

"Yeah" He said before leaving the room only to come back in, "Um, where's Alfred?"

I shook my head smiling.

"He's in the kitchen cooking dinner. I think he might be making his famous Sheppard pie" I told him and he nodded his head with a thank you.

Once the clothes were folded, put away and Bruce's dirty clothes were in the washer, I sat down on my bed with a sigh as I grabbed my laptop. I logged on to my _Facebook _account to see a new message from one of my old college friends. I smiled and read the message that she was coming to Gotham for two days to meet her boyfriend of two years parents and wanted to meet with me at the local park or a cafe and catch up.

I smiled as I typed a message back saying that I was excited to meet her again and that I knew of this great diner that I go to everyday for lunch, adding silently in my head that the only reason I go there was to keep an eye on John. Even though the Penguin has been a no show in the last month, doesn't mean he couldn't or wouldn't try something against the cop that I could call my only friend here in Gotham beside Bruce. Yes, the last couple of weeks, John and I had become friends, telling jokes and stories about our child hood while we were in the diner. John even gave me a ride home after once again the camaro being towed away. In which Bruce had to take the beautiful red car away from me for a week, and gave me a black 2003 Impala to drive, until my 'grounding' from the camaro was over.

To my surprise Alice replied back quickly with a smiley face and a '_I can't wait to see you Lily! It feels like forever since we last saw each other! Will this Friday at one sound good?'. _I smiled and replied with a _'yes one is good'_ and that I agreed with her that it felt like forever since I last saw her. Which had really been over seven months since she had graduated in December and I in May. She couldn't make it to my Graduation due to some family problems, but it was understandable.

Alice and I typed messages back and forth for a bit, until Papa had knocked on my door letting me know that dinner was ready. I nodded my head and told him I will be down soon, before telling Alice that I had to go, because dinner was ready. I shut my laptop down, before leaving for the kitchen where Papa and Bruce were sitting at the table with a plate in front of them.

"You seem happy" Bruce said as I sat across from him.

"I have a good reason to be" I told him with a smile on my face, "My best friend from college is coming to Gotham to meet her boyfriend parents, so we decided to catch up this coming Friday at a local diner called Molly's Burgers and Fries"

"Hm, I heard they have good food there" Bruce said as he cut some of his food.

"They have good burgers. I eat there occasionally when I'm in Gotham" I told him.

"You don't like my cooking now?" Papa asked jokingly.

I giggled and rolled my eyes.

"You know I love your cooking Papa, but sometimes I can't come back just for you to make me a burger" I told him.

After the nice and wonderful dinner I excused myself from the table to go to bed, or so far as they knew. I walked up to my room and quickly changed out of my clothes, before putting on the batsuit. Opening my window I closed my eyes as I felt the cool night air hit my face. I opened them again and jumped out of my window and then rushed to the garage where the bike I have been riding during the nights of my second life as Batgirl.

I hid the bike like always in an alley and ran along roof tops looking for any signs of trouble. It was oddly quiet, not even a cat was out. Something felt odd, and not the good odd either. I looked around for any signs of anything. There was nothing. I bit my lip and turned to look at the city streets below. A man was sneaking on the sidewalk. He wore a tuxedo. I jumped down from the building and followed the Penguin goon to a man hole. I watched him jump down into it and was about to follow him when someone shouted for me to stop. I turned around to see John, but he was oddly wearing jeans and a dark brown shirt with a black un-zipped black hoodie. It was one of the rare times I had saw him without his police uniform.

"What are you doing here John?" I asked him with my eyes wide.

It was to dangerous for him to be out here. This could be a trap for all I know!

"I was on my way home from a friends, and I saw you following one of the Penguin henchmen" John said.

"You shouldn't be out here John. The Penguin may still want to kill you" I told him and he shook his head.

"I don't care if the Penguin is still wanting to kill me or not, but I can't let you go down in that hole all alone" John said with a serious face.

I raised an eyebrow at him.

"Is this because I'm a girl?" I asked him.

"No, well sort of, but it's dangerous to go down their alone. If this is a trap and it feels like one, the Penguin will most likely have more men down there waiting for you. Please let me at least go down there with you" John said and I let out a sigh as I watched him.

"Okay, let's go, but get out of there if we can't take them on" I told him, "And if something happens to me down there, don't try to be a hero and save me. Just save yourself"

John nodded his head and I walked over to the man hole. I uncovered the hole and jumped in with John following me. We walked through the dark tunnel cautiously. I cursed wishing I had a flashlight or something. John being prepared and all handed me one. I rolled my eyes as I turned the thing on. Did all cops carried one around even when not in uniform? The answer to that question may never be known.

As we walked through the sewer system I could hear voices. One belonging to the Penguin who was clearly upset with none of then the Riddler. So they are partners, that would had been nice to have known earlier. Now it's way to dangerous for John to be here without any protection other then his gun, and me.

I stopped walking making John bump into me. I turned the flashlight to my face and place a finger on my lips meaning for him to quiet. He nodded his head and we listened to the two villains speak to one another.

"Oh come on birdy don't be that way! We'll catch the bat and her little pig friend" The Riddler laughed.

"When?" The Penguin growled angrily.

"Soon, because once I get the 3-D takeover finished, we can control the people of Gotham minds. One of them have to at least know the identity of Batgirl, and we can easily get a hold of the pig" The Riddler said.

I bit my lip thinking. 3-D takeover? What in the hell did that mean? I glanced behind me at John who was in thought also. I turned back around quickly after hearing footsteps near by. My eyes went wide as I turned to John and held onto him tightly as I got out the grappling gun. I raised it to the ceiling of the sewer and quickly flew up into the air as we clung to each other.

I looked down to see three tuxedo men walk by the flash light that I had dropped. They looked down at the light and looked around. I bit my lip as I felt my hand begin to slid from the gun.

"We best tell the boss 'bout this" One of the men said and the other two nodded before leaving.

John and I dropped to the ground with a thud. We got up quickly and left the sewers.

"We need to get out of here" I told him as I felt a sharp pain in my ankle.

I cried out and would had fallen to the ground if it wasn't for John catching me.

"Are you okay?" He asked me as he held me up.

"My ankle, I think I twisted it when we dropped from the ceiling" I told him.

"Let's go. My apartment isn't far from here. I can bandage it up" He said and I nodded my head.

John and I walked, well I limped a few blocks to a brick building. We walked inside and got into an elevator. We rode up to the third floor, before walking to the wooden door with a golden 3-21 on it. John got out a key unlocking the door. He then walked in turning on lights. I then limped into the room and saw that it was some what of a mess. You could tell he was single.

I sat down on a couch as John went down a hallway. He returned shortly after with a first aid kit. John crouched down in front of me. He took off my boot and examine my ankle that sported a nice purple bruise.

"You're going to want to stay off of this for a few days" John said as he opened the kit up.

"I can't. I have to protect the city" I told him as he got out some bandages.

"I'm sure the city will be safe for a few nights" John said as he began to wrap my ankle.

"You don't know. What if the Penguin or Riddler does something?" I asked him.

"Then the police will handle it. You deserve a few nights off, you can't take care of the city all the time" John said and shook my head.

"I know, but I don't want people to get hurt, especially the children" I told him and he stopped wrapping my ankle.

"Is that why you do it? So children won't get hurt?" He asked me and I nodded.

"I lost my parents when I was only a kid. They were gunned by some robbers at a gas station. I was there and luckily was spared, unlike everyone else. I used to wonder why I was the only one that didn't get killed, but now I think I know why, so I can help save others from knowing what it's like to grow up without your parents or loved ones" I told him.

"I lost mine when I was young too. My Mother died from a car accident, while my Father was killed by some men over a debt a couple of years later. I was then put into an orphanage until I was sixteen, that's when I aged out. A few years later I joined the police academy to learn how to fight criminals and give them justice, unlike the men that killed my Father" John said sadly.

"I'm sorry about your parents, John" I said as he began to finish wrapping my ankle.

"It's alright, and done" He said standing up.

I looked down at my ankle and thanked him, before putting my boot back on.

"John, since the Penguin is after you and it's easy for him to take you is there anywhere that you might be able to stay safely from him? You're a good guy, and I don't want you to get hurt by the Penguin" I told him.

"Don't worry about me, Batgirl. I'm a grown man, I can take care of myself" John said and I rolled my eyes.

I then flipped him to the ground and pinned him.

"I'm shocked, John. I thought you could take care of yourself?" I said laughing.

"That was a surprise attack" He muttered as his cheeks went red after he looked up at me.

I looked down and noticed he could see down my suit a bit. I blushed and got up quickly. I cleared my throat.

"Well it would really make me feel better to know that you're somewhere safe. How about a friends house? Or your partner?" I told as an awkward air filled the room.

"I don't really have friends except for this woman, and Ross won't let me. He's kind of a"

"A dick?" I asked and he nodded.

"I was going to say jerk, but yeah, let's go with dick" John said nodding his head and I laughed a little.

"Well then why don't you stay with this girl for a while? I'm sure she wouldn't mind if it was to keep you safe" I told him.

"I might ask her tomorrow if she comes to this diner we usually meet at for lunch" He told me and smiled knowing he was talking about me.

"Okay, where does she stay at? So I can check up on you" I told him.

"Wayne Manor" He said and I nodded.

"Well I better get going" I told him and he nodded.

I left John's apartment and headed back to Wayne manor after getting the motorcycle.


	9. Chapter 9

**I Do Not Own Batman or anything else, except my OC(s)!**

* * *

"Ahh!" I screamed falling down the stairs.

I rolled to the bottom and onto my side with the hurt ankle to make it look like this was the reason for it to be hurt.

"Lily! What's wrong?" Papa asked as he rushed to the staircase.

I lifted myself up and groaned from the aches in my body from the fall.

"I tripped over my clumsy feet" I told him as I stood only to fall back, "Ah, my ankle"

I reached down to the ankle and held it as Papa got down on his knees. He raised my pant leg up to see it. The once purple bruise was now an almost black.

"This is an ugly sprang ankle" He said as he stood up, "Stay here while I go get the first aid kit"

I nodded my head as Papa left the room quickly. I slowly scooted to the stairs to sit on them, making sure I did not move my hurt ankle.

"I heard you scream, are you okay?" Bruce asked standing at the top of the staircase.

I jumped at the sudden sound of his voice. I didn't even hear him leave the west wing.

"I tripped down the stairs and hurt my ankle" I told him as he made his way down the stairs.

"I'm back" Papa said carrying a big case.

He bent down and began to wrap my ankle gently with some bandages.

"You need to be more careful walking down those stairs, my dear" Papa said as wrapped my ankle.

"I was going a little to fast" I told him.

Papa nodded and stood up after he was finished wrapping my ankle.

"Well don't be on your ankle to much" Papa said and I nodded as I stood up.

I hissed a little at the pain, but shook my head and walked towards the kitchen with Papa and Bruce following close behind. I walked over to the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water along with an apple. I drunk some of the water and bit the apple.

"I'll be back around four or so" I told them before walking out of the kitchen.

"You can't go anywhere with a hurt ankle" Papa said frowning.

I stopped walking and turned around.

"I'll be fine Papa" I told him.

"Call me if anything bad happens" Papa said and I nodded.

"I will" I told him and turned back around.

I left the manor and drove the camaro to the diner where John was probably waiting for me. Hopefully he will ask me if he can stay at the manor for a while. I hope Bruce wouldn't mind. I parked the car and got out. I slowly got out of the car and limped into the diner. I saw John sitting in his usual seat at the counter. I walked in and John turned instantly at the sound of the little bell. I smiled at him as I limped over to him. He frowned seeing how I was walking. Hopefully he wouldn't think to hard on it and figure out that I'm Batgirl.

"What happened?" He asked me as I sat next to him.

"Well I woke up this morning and was walking down the stairs to quickly when my foot got caught on the stairs making me fall down them. I sprung my ankle, but I should be okay in a few days" I told him.

"I hope so" He said and took a sip of his coffee.

I told the waitress my order and she nodded before leaving.

"So anything exciting happen to you yesterday while on your date with that Hailey girl?" I asked him.

"No, she's nice and all, but not really my type. She's to much of an all about me kind of girl" John said shaking his head.

"That sounds like a lovely girl for you John" I laughed.

"It sound like it, until she gets to talking about herself and shoes. She was constantly talking about this pair of high heels she bought last week that cost around five hundred dollars" He said.

"Wow, I wish I had five hundred dollars to blow like her" I told him.

"Yeah, I do too" He laughed as the waitress set a cup of water in front of me along with a plate holding my food. A ham and cheese sub with fries.

"Looks yummy" I said and picked up my sandwich.

I looked over at John as he looked like he was deep in thought. I chewed my food quickly and swallowed it before taking a drink of water.

"Everything okay, John?" I asked him.

"Yeah, everything's fine" He said looking at me, "It's just I ran into Batgirl last night after my date. We went into the sewers after one of the Penguins goon and well we over heard the Penguin talking with the Riddler about taking over the people of Gotham minds to get Batgirl and me. After leaving the sewers we went back to my place"

"Ooh John, don't tell me you slept with her" I grinned.

I couldn't help, but tease him. His face went bright red.

"No, nothing like that had happened" He said and continued on, "She did pin me to the ground and I did accidentally saw down her suit a little, but nothing more then that happened, anyway, Batgirl wants me to stay somewhere safe, since my apartment is very easy for the Penguin to break in"

"Say no more! You can stay at the manor. I'm sure after I talk to Bruce about it, he won't mind" I told him.

"I really hate asking you this and you don't have to do this, Lily" John said and I waved my hand at him.

"It's fine, John, really, that's what friends are for" I told him as I got my cell phone out, "I'll be back"

I went outside of the diner and dialed the manors number. It was answer immediately by Papa.

"Hello?" He asked.

"Hey, Papa, can I talk to Bruce for a moment?" I asked him.

"Yes, is everything okay?" He asked me and I told him that there was nothing wrong.

In the background I could hear Papa walking through the hallway of the west wing from the thump of the arrows that Bruce always shot at the target set up in one of the rooms.

"Bruce, Lily wants to speak with you" Papa said.

A few seconds later Bruce answered with a hello.

"Hey, Bruce. I need you to do me a big huge huge favor" I said.

"And what's that?" He asked.

"My friend John is needing a place to stay for a while and I told him it was okay for him to stay at the manor. Could he stay there for a while?" I asked him.

"Lily" He sighed, "You can't just invite people to move in that you hardly know"

"I know, Bruce, but he's in danger. The Penguin and Riddler is after him for some reason. Batgirl told him he needed some place safe to stay" I began, but was cut off by Bruce.

"Fine, he can stay here for a while" Bruce said with a sigh and I smiled.

"Thank you so much, Bruce. I owe you big time" I told him.

"Yes, you do" Bruce said.

"Bye" I told him before hanging up.

I walked back into the diner and sat next to John. I noticed that a few of my fries were taken. I looked over at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Did you take some of my fries?" I asked him and he smiled guilty.

"Yes, but they looked to good not to eat" He said and I shook my head at him with a smile on my face, "So what did Bruce say?"

"He said you can stay for a while, but so you know, he stays up in the west wing alone most of the time" I told him.

"Okay, anything else I should know?" He asked and I nodded.

"Yes, if you by chance see my Grandfather asleep on the couch watching the history channel please place a blanket over him, and dinner is usually around seven. I don't wake up till around eleven maybe one" I told him.

"Okay, so should we get going? I have to pack some of my stuff at my apartment" He said and I nodded after getting a box to put my food in.

We left the diner and I followed John driving his Impala back to his place. We rode the elevator up to the third floor and went to his apartment. Inside the place was trashed. I looked around the living room holding the tazer in my coat pocket.

"Stay here" John said as he pulled out a pistol from the back of his pants.

I rolled my eyes and walked into what looked like the kitchen. It to was a mess, but no one was in there. I turned around and raised my tazer at John. He looked at me with wide eyes, shocked to see me pull that out at him.

"What are you doing?" He asked me.

I rolled my eyes and shot the tazer at the tuxedo man behind him. The man fell to the ground shaking from the from the shock. I walked over to John and the unconscious man.

"Saving you" I told him as he gave me a weird look, "We better leave. There's no telling if there's more here or not"

John nodded before running to his room. He appeared seconds later with a duffel bag full of clothes. We left his apartment quickly and got into our separate cars. I drove out of Gotham with John following close behind me. I parked in the garage and got out as John parked his next to the camaro.

"It's a good thing I had my tazer with me" I told John as he followed me into the manor.

"Yeah, imagine what would had happened if you didn't" John said and I shook my head.

"I don't even want to" I told him and Papa walked into view.

"Hello, Officer Blake. Master Wayne has told me about your predicament with those two villains. I'm sorry to hear about that" Papa said and John nodded his head, "I hope you had a nice lunch. Dinner will be done around seven".

John nodded his head again.

"Lily, could you show Officer Blake to his room? It's the one next to the bathroom" Papa asked me and I nodded my head.

"Sure, follow me, John" I said and began to walk towards the stairs.

"Careful, Lily. Don't want you to trip and hurt yourself again" John chuckled.

I rolled my eyes and looked back at him as I climbed up them.

"Just so you know that was a one time. Whoa!" I began, but as fate would have I almost fell forward, but caught myself on the railing, with John placing his hands on me to make sure I wouldn't fall.

"What were you saying?" John laughed after he made sure I was okay.

"Bite me" I muttered to him as we continued up the staircase.

Reaching the room next to the bathroom, I opened the door and let John walk in. He dropped his duffel bag down on the queen size bed and looked around.

"Papa usually comes in during the day to tidy up the rooms" I told him, "And my room is a two doors down on the left"

John nodded his head.

"Can you thank Bruce for me, Lily?" John asked me and I nodded my head.

"Of course" I told him, "Well I'll let you un-pack and stuff. I'll come and show you the way to the kitchen when dinner is ready, unless you'd like to explore on your own. It's a pretty big place"

"I think I can take care of myself if I get lost" He laughed and I nodded.

"Okay" I said before leaving the room and headed towards the west wing.


	10. Chapter 10

**I Do Not Own Batman or anything else, except my OC(s)!**

* * *

After hanging out with Bruce for a bit and thanking him for John, I left the west wing for the kitchen to get a snack. Walking into the room I was sort of surprised to see John sitting at the table eating an apple.

"I see you found the kitchen okay" I laughed a little as I walked over to the pantry where I knew Bruce had hidden some junk food, "Get lost any?"

"Only once. I was looking for the bathroom and ended up in the library" He said.

"That happened to me a few times when I came here as a kid" I told him grabbing a snowball cake.

"Really?" He asked and I nodded my head as I opened the plastic that the cake was wrapped in.

"Yeah, but don't worry after a week or so you'll know where every room is in this place, except for the west wing, because that's off limits" I told him sitting across from him at the table.

"How come?" He asked as I took a bite from the marshmallow covered chocolate cake.

I quickly chew the piece cake and swallowed it. I let out a sigh and looked down at the table.

"Because Bruce locked himself up in there" I told him, "I worry about him a lot when he's alone up there. He's like an older brother to me you know"

I jumped a bit when I felt a hand on my free one. I looked up to see John looking at me with a sincere look in his eyes as he gave my hand a gentle squeeze.

"It's going to be okay, Lily. He'll leave once he's ready" John said giving me a small smile.

I smiled a little and nodded as I looked into his eyes. I jumped hearing the sound of someone's throat clearing. John removed his hand quickly and looked at the door leading out of the kitchen. I turned slightly and saw Papa there with his arms crossed over his chest as he looked at us.

"Junk food like that Lily will spoil your dinner" Papa said and I looked down at the cake in my hand.

I stood up and walked over to the trash can. I dropped the cake into the can and let out a sigh.

"Sorry Papa, but I wanted something sweet" I told him as I walked back over to the table.

"Well then I'll bake a chocolate cake for dessert" Papa said as he walked over to the stove.

"I could cook dinner" I told him.

"No, no, you cooked dinner last night" Papa said shaking his head as he began to get a cake pan and a skillet out.

"Let me help at least" I told him, and he still shook his head.

"You can show Mr. Blake around the manor while I fix dinner" Papa said as he got some flour out of a cabinet.

I let out a sigh in defeat. He had won this round, but not the next one!

"Okay you win, Papa, but I will be fixing dinner tomorrow night!" I told him and he nodded while chuckling at me.

"We'll see" He said and began to fix dinner.

I sat down at the kitchen table as John finished his cereal. Once he put the bowl and spoon into the sink we left the kitchen.

"So, have you been out to the garden yet?" I asked him as we walked down a hallway.

"There's a garden?" John asked.

I laughed and nodded my head. I grabbed John's hand and began to drag him to one of the back doors that lead to the colorful garden.

"What's a manor without a garden?" I asked him as I dragged him over to the path that went through the garden.

I let go of John's hand as we stood on the path. He was looking around at the sculptured animals that were made out of shrubs. I smiled seeing an elephant one of my favorites to look at.

"You see that elephant over there?" I asked John pointing to the slightly big green shrub.

John looked over to the sculptor and nodded his head.

"It's one of my favorites here in the garden" I told him.

"It is a beautiful sculpture" John said and I nodded.

We began to walk the small path of the garden. In the middle of the garden I noticed something in the pathway. I walked a head slowly as my ankle began to hurt a little. As I got closer to the thing, I noticed that it was a green envelope. My heart dropped to the pit of my stomach after seeing the black question mark on the front. I looked around quickly to see if the Riddler or any of the Penguins henchmen were around. Luckily I didn't see any, but that didn't mean that they weren't around.

"What's that?" John asked causing me to jump and clutch the envelope to my chest.

"I don't know" I told him and held the envelope out.

John looked at it and his face went pale. He grabbed me by my arm gently and began to guide me back to the manor.

"We have to get inside. It's from the Riddler" He said quickly.

We walked into the manor, and I locked the doors as John walked to the living room. I followed him and sat on the couch as John placed the envelope down on the table.

"Should we open it?" I asked him and he nodded.

"Yeah" John said and opened the envelope.

A card fell out. John picked it up and opened it. Inside the card was a picture of John from a news paper. Under his eyes colored in with a blue crayon were tears and on the bottom was written in blue crayon. _I make you weak at the worst of all times, I keep you safe, I keep you fine, I make your hands sweat, And your heart grow cold, I visit the weak, But seldom the bold._

"I don't understand what it could mean" John said as he stared at the card.

"Me neither" I lied.

Of course it the answer to the riddle was fear. What else would make your heart grow cold, and hardly bold people get scared by their fears. I guess Batgirl will be making an appearance later tonight, if John doesn't figure out the riddle on his own.

We sat in the living room going over the riddle until dinner. John had almost figured it out a few times on his own, but he kept thinking about it.

"Lily could you take that tray up to Master Bruce?" Papa asked since I had finished eating before he was.

I nodded and stood up from the table. I walked over to the counter and picked up the tray that held Bruce's food. I left the kitchen and went up to the west wing. I could hear the thumping of the arrow hitting the target as usual.

"Bringing you your food like this makes me feel like you're a prisoner and I'm the guard" I told him setting the tray down on a small table.

Bruce set his bow down and grabbed his cane before making his way over to the tray of food.

"Well you're doing a good job at it" He said and I rolled my eyes, "I saw you in the garden with John earlier"

My heart went cold. Did he see us leave quickly with that envelope?

"You two left real quick after finding something" He said and looked at me as he grabbed a roll, "Is something going on that I should know?"

I shook my head.

"No, we found a dead squirrel and you know how I am when I see a dead animal. John was being the kind gentleman he is and took me away from it" I lied hoping he couldn't tell.

"Oh, I'm sorry about the squirrel" Bruce said and took a bite from the roll.

"Me too, well I better get going and let you eat in peace" I told him and left the west wing quickly.

I walked towards my room and saw that John was in the bathroom taking a shower. It was a perfect chance to get into my batsuit and scare the living daylights out of John. I walked into my room quickly and changed into the suit. I walked out of my room and into John's. I hide in the dark corner of the room and waited for him to show up.

Ten minutes went by and John's door opened up. He walked into the room with a tower wrapped around his waist. It was good thing that it was dark and my mask was covering the blush on my cheeks as I saw his chest. John turned on the light after shutting the door. He jumped seeing me.

"I'm not that ugly am I?" I asked him tilting my head to the side.

"Uh, no, you're very attractive, I mean, what are you doing here? I thought you were taking a break because of your ankle?" John asked.

I had to hold in a laugh that was dying to come out.

"Crime waits for no one, John. Now did anything happened to you today?" I asked him.

John nodded and told me what had happened earlier at his apartment and then what happened in the garden.

"I just don't know the answer about that riddle" John said and I shook my head.

"Fears" I said and John looked at me, "The answer to the riddle is Fears"

"Fears? What is the Riddlers plan?" John asked and I shrugged my shoulder.

" He's a psychopath who wants to take over Gotham by mind control" I said and let out a sigh, "I must get going. I have a city to protect, be safe kid"

I turned to the window quickly and jumped out of it before John could say anything. I used the grappling gun to get to the roof. I ran across the roof to where my room was. I jumped down onto the window and opened it. I climbed through my window and locked it, before changing into a pair of pajamas. I hid my outfit under my bed and laid down wondering about the Riddler. What was his plan exactly?


	11. Chapter 11

**I Do Not Own Batman or anything else, except my OC(s)!**

* * *

I woke up the next morning around nine. It felt odd waking up that early as I had gotten use to waking up much later. I got ready for the day and walked down to the kitchen to see Papa cleaning a bowl. I let out a yawn as I walked over to the fridge for some nice cold orange juice.

"I see you're up bright and early" Papa said as I opened the fridge.

"Strange isn't it?" I asked him grabbing the carton.

"Yes it is. Sleep well?" He asked as I grabbed a glass cup from a cabinet.

"Yes" I said nodding my head as I poured the orange liquid into the cup.

"Your cop friend left for work around eight this morning" Papa said and I frowned a little.

It wasn't safe for him to be out there, but he did have his partner with him so he wasn't alone. I just hope he'll be okay.

"I hope he'll be okay out there. Who knows when the Penguin will pop up and attack" I said as I walked back over to the fridge to put the orange juice away.

"Villains are always un-predictable" Papa said as I walked back to the counter for my cup of juice, "How's your ankle?"

"It's a little better. Sore, and the bruise is still there, but I can walk on it without it hurting to much" I told him.

"Well that's good. Now go into the living room and rest it. I'll fix you some pancakes" Papa said and I nodded my head.

I walked into the living room and sat on the couch. I turned the news on to see if I had missed anything last night. Ten minutes passed with nothing exciting except about a clip on Erik Nolton the new director in the Proto-type division of the Wayne Science Facility. I was about to turn it to some cartoons, when the reporter began to speak about Batgirl. I laid the remote down and paid attention to the flat screen.

"_This may be a shocker to some, but last night there was no sign of the Batgirl. Could it be that the masked vigilante has left Gotham like her partner, the Batman? Or could she be captured by the Penguin or Riddler? Who knows, but as there were no signs of the real Batgirl, there were plenty signs of people pretending to be her"_

My eyes went wide. People were actually dressing up as me and going to the streets looking for criminals! They were crazy to do something so dangerous and stupid!

_"Luckily the fake Batgirls were captured by the police and were taken away. This is not a joking matter girls. It's dangerous out there on the streets at night. Carry some form of protection like pepper spray or tazer. Even the Batgirl carries them!"_

I turned the channel not wanting to hear any more. I never knew that becoming Batgirl would have this type of impact on people to make them put themselves in danger for what? To look cool? I closed my eyes and let out a sigh as I listened to the cartoon play.

"Something wrong?" Papa asked walking into the living room with a tray.

"No, I'm just tired" I told him as he set the tray down on the table in front of me.

"After eating some pancakes I'm sure the sugar will kick in and you'll be wide awake" Papa said as I began to eat the pancakes.

"So did John say when he'll be back?" I asked Papa as I cut a piece of the pancake.

"He said around late this evening" Papa said, "Well I'm going to go wake Master Bruce up"

I nodded my head as I chewed my food. Once I was finished eating I walked into the kitchen and cleaned my plate and fork. I grabbed a glass from a cabinet and filled it with water. I drunk it quickly and washed the cup, before going up to my room. I grabbed my baton and stuck it in my right boot, before leaving my room. I walked down the stairs and out back to the garden. I needed to train on my attacks. I know it wasn't a smart idea with a hurt ankle, but it had to be done.

I walked far away from the manor to the surrounding forest. I ran through it quickly like I was on a chase. I jumped over stumps and fallen trees. I got out my baton and pretended a tree was a villain that I had to take down. I hit it a few times, before running again. My ankle began to hurt, but I kept going. I was surely going to have to get used to it if I was going to be Batgirl.

I jumped up grabbing onto a limb. I swung and let go. I did a flip and landed on my feet. My hands burned and were a little scraped.

"Should have worn gloves" I muttered to myself as I walked back to the manor after two hours of training.

I walked inside and let out a breath as I walked up to my room. I hid the baton and grabbed some clothes for the shower I needed. I my room left for a much needed shower. When I was done with the shower, I walked down to the living room and watched TV for a while.

"_Breaking news! It appears that the Riddler is attacking people at the House of Fears!" _A woman said quickly as I stopped on the news.

I got up from the couch and ran up to my room. I locked the door behind me and put on the suit. I left the manor and rode the motorcycle to the House of Fears that was located cross town. I stopped my bike and got off of it.

Hiding behind a few cars I made my way towards the entrance of the horror house. I stopped when a few police men walked into the place. One of the men was John. Of course he was going to be one of the people to go in there. I bit my lip as I ran in to see some of the Penguin henchmen jump out and attack the cops. I tried to get to them, but one of the men ran at me. While I fought him off of me, the cops were knocked unconscious and taken away, while a couple were killed. I ran though the house and paused when reaching a mirror maze.

"You got to be joking" I muttered as I walked through the confusing maze.

"Looky who's here, the bat is here!" The Riddler said laughing over the loud speaker.

"Let the people go, Riddler and turn yourself in!" I shouted as I punched one of the mirrors getting tired of running into them.

I stepped through the hole into another line of mirrors. Doing the same as last time, I punched another, and another, until I reached the door leading into the room of wax figures.

"That's not fair you little cheating bat!" The Riddler said.

I walked pass the statues of the bad guys from horror movies. Like Jason, Freddie, Chuckie, and so on. I stopped when I heard something behind me. I turned and raised my baton up to block an attack from Jason's machete. I kicked him in the ribs making him go down. I then smacked him across the head with my baton. He fell to the floor out cold. I un-masked the man to see that he was a cop.

My eyes went wide. Was the cops working with the Riddler now? No it couldn't be possible! I left the wax figure room and went to the haunted Asylum theme room. The flashing of the white and green lights was giving me a headache and making me dizzy.

"What's wrong Batgirl? Feeling a little dizzy?" The Riddler said as I staggered a bit, before falling to the ground. I tried to keep my eyes open, but couldn't as I saw feet stop in front of me.

Time had passed. How long? I don't know. I opened my eyes and everything was blurry. I was chained to something, I looked to my left to see someone.

"You're awake, good" The person said, and recognized it to be John.

"I thought I told you to stay safe" I told him.

"And I thought I told you to take a break" He said and I smirked.

"Well I guess that didn't work out for the both of us" I said, "So where are we?"

"The haunted garden" He said as I looked around to see the fake fog and plants that was shined with purple, orange and green lights, "The Riddler 3-d mind take over thing is working. He tested it"

"On some of the cops he captured?" I asked and he nodded, "How long have I been unconscious?"

"About ten minutes" He said.

I moved my arm to try to get loose from the restrance, but couldn't. I let out a groan as I glared at nothing.

"Has the Riddler shown up any?" I asked him as I tried again.

"When he dragged you in here" He said.

"Did he say anything?" I asked him and he nodded.

"Something about a big bang" John said and I froze.

Big bang usually meant a bomb. I began to thrash against my restraints hoping they would break, but they wouldn't. I began to pant from using a lot of my energy.

"Is there any chance that you could get loose?" I asked him.

"I can try" John said as he did the same as I had.

I heard a crack and John soon fell to the ground. He stood up.

"What now?" He asked.

"Get out of here. There's a bomb somewhere in here and it's most likely about to blow" I said quickly.

"I'm not leaving you!" He said and grabbed a chair that was near by.

He set it in front of me and grabbed a near by wrench. John then stood on the chair and began to hit my restraints until they broke. I fell forward, but John caught me as he tried not to fall off the chair. He stepped down and helped me stand.

"You're a good guy" I said as we left the Haunted Garden and into the Haunted Asylum.

We quickly made it through the Asylum, after grabbing my baton that was left lying on the ground where I had passed out earlier. We went through the wax figure hall and then through the mirrors. As we walked out of the main entrance an explosion happened throwing the both of us forward to the ground. I let out a groan as I rolled onto my back.

"Get the medics!" A man shouted as I stood up.

I stumbled a bit, but ran for it. I hid in an alley and took off my mask as I began to take my suit off. I put on a black blouse with a light pink skirt that went to my knees. I put on a pair of black flats before hiding my suit in a bag that I had on my motorcycle. I walked out of the alley way with my bag and back over to the _House of Fears_.

"Oh my God! John!" I shouted as I ran over to the ambulance ignoring the sore aches in my bones as John was getting checked out by the medics.

"Lily!?" John said with a shock look on his face as he got off of the ambulance.

"Are you okay?" I asked him as he pulled me into a hug that kinda shocked me, but I hugged him back.  
"I'm fine, what are you doing here? It's dangerous" He said holding me out at arms length.

"I could ask you the same thing" I told him.

"It's my job to be here" He said.

"Yeah, and it's your job to stay safe also" I told him.

"Sir, we aren't done checking you" One of the medics said.

"I'm fine" He said and flinched when he turned towards them.

"No you're not" I said and walked him carefully over to the ambulance.

John sat in the back of the ambulance as they checked him out.

"We need you to take off your shirt" The medic said and John nodded.

He unbutton his shirt and slid it off. I didn't know if I should blush from the sight of his muscular chest or for my eyes to go wide at the sight of a huge purple bruise on his left side. All the way from a few inches from his arm pit to an inch above his pants.

"We'll need to take you to the hospital to make sure you don't have a broken rib or internal bleeding, Officer" The medic said and John nodded his head as he stood.

"Want to come with me?" He asked with pleading eyes for me to say yes.

"I was going to go even if you told me not too" I said and got into the ambulance.

Hopefully the bike would be okay hiding in that alley.

"You're going to be okay, John" I said giving him a small smile as he looked nervous.

"I know, but I hope it's nothing serious" He said and I grabbed his hand giving it a gentle squeeze.

"You won't be in the hospital for long, Officer Blake. Only an hour or so if it's not serious. Which I highly doubt it is" The medic said as he sat in the corner of the ambulance.

"Even the medic doubt it's serious" I told him.

John nodded and stared at my face smiling a little.

"Thanks for coming with me, Lily. You're a good friend" He said.

"You're welcome, John" I said smiling down at him.

Once reaching the hospital John was taken to get x-rays done of his ribs. While I sat in the waiting room I called Papa and explained to him what had happened. He had been worried once he found out I had disappeared, but was glad that I was okay, and asked how John was. I told him he was getting x-rays done as we spoke. I then asked him if he could pick us up. Since the bike was so far away and not good for John to ride. He said he would and I told I had to go, because John was rolled out of the x-ray room in a wheel chair by a nurse. I stood up and walked over to the two.

"So how did it go?" I asked him.

"Nothing's broken and there's no internal bleeding. Just a big bad bruise" John said and let out a breath of relief that I had been holding while waiting for his answer.

"That's good" I said as I helped John get out of the wheel chair.

"Yeah" He said and we walked slowly over to the exit of the hospital.

"I just got off the phone with Papa, he said he'll come pick us up" I told him as he sat on a bench by the door.

I sat next to him and waited in silence for Papa to show up.

"You look nice. Did you have a date?" He asked me after waiting five minutes of silence.

I looked down at my outfit and shook my head with a small blush on my cheeks. The reason I had chosen the outfit, because it was easy to put on instead of jeans that would take more time to put on than a skirt would if there was an emergency and I needed to get out of my suit quickly, like earlier.

"No, I felt like wearing this, since I haven't wore it in a while" I told him.

"Hm, you should wear it more often. It looks good on you" He said and I blushed at his complement and shifted my bag that was in my lap.

There was a metal ding coming from one of the bat blades hitting the concrete. My bit my lip as John reached down slowly picking up the golden bat. He looked at it and then at me.

"Where did you get this?" He asked me holding up the blade.

"I found it when I was outside the _House of Fears_" I told him, "Batgirl must had dropped it or something when she ran in there"

John looked at the blade for a second before handing it back to me. I put it in my bag.

"So what was it like meeting her?" I asked him.

"Amazing. She's a good person" He said, "She cares for the people of Gotham and would sacrifice herself to save one orphan cop who can't even protect himself"

I looked at John who glared at the ground. I placed my hand on his back.

"Don't think that way, John. It was a trap to get you and those cops in there. You're lucky that you two got out alive" I said and jumped when a horn was honked.

John and I looked up to see Papa. We got up and walked to the car. Papa had the back door opened already for John to get in. I got in the back also as Papa got in the driver seat.

"How are you feeling Mr. Blake?" Papa asked.

"Sore" John said.

"A few days of rest should fix that" Papa said as he looked in the rear view mirror.

"I hope so" John said.

"Lily, I noticed Master Bruce's motorcycle is gone. Do you have any idea where it is?" Papa asked.

"I do. Since it was the fastest thing, and easier to get through the traffic I took it after learning about what was happening at the _House of Fears_" I told him.

"Oh, do I need to drop you off so you can get it?" He asked and I knew what he was doing.

Papa didn't like it how John and I were in the back together.

"Yeah" I said nodding my head.


	12. Chapter 12

**I Do Not Own Batman or anything else, except my OC(s)!**

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******AN: Since it's a holiday here in the US, I figured I'd post a new chapter. Don't worry there will be another update on Saturday.**

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A few days have passed. At night I went patrolling after seeing if John was okay. The chief of police let him off for a week due to what had happened at the House of Fears. Papa never let John get out of his bed, unless it was for bathroom breaks, showers, and for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Of course catching Papa when he was busy sometimes I would walk John out to the garden for some fresh air or watch TV in the living room.

Today was Friday, the day that I would be meeting Alice. I got ready for the day and was heading out the door when Papa stopped me.

"Where are you going?" He asked curiously.

"Meeting my old college friend, Alice" I told him.

"Oh, of course. I forgot all about your meeting with her. Well have fun and be careful my dear" Papa said and I nodded before leaving the manor.

I parked the camaro and got out. I spotted Alice waving at me excitedly from inside. I walked into the diner quickly and hugged the happy blonde.

"It's so great to see you again, Lily!" Alice said.

"It's been too long" I said as we sat at a booth.

"Hello, how can I help you" A red headed waitress asked.

"I'll have a cheeseburger and some fries, with a coke" I told her.

"Okay, and you Ma'am?" She asked Alice.

"What she's having, oh and no mayo" Alice said and the waitress nodded writing our orders down on the note pad.

The waitress was about to walk away, but stopped and turned back to us. I looked up at her wondering what she wanted.

"You're that girl that Officer Blake see's all the time here. He hasn't been here in a while. Do you if he's okay?" She asked worriedly.

"John is doing fine. He's just been on bed rest due to the Riddler attacking him" I told her and she gasped.

"Is he alright?" She asked and I nodded.

"Yeah, just a big bruise on his side. Nothing to serious" I assured her.

"Well then tell him, I said to get well and I miss seeing him around" The woman said and I nodded.

"Will do miss" I said and she left.

"Are you seeing this Officer John Blake, Lily?" Alice asked me and I couldn't help, but blush at her question.

"No, no, we're just friends" I told her shaking my head.

"But you have feelings for him?" She asked me with a smirk as my cheeks went redder.

"I-I don't know. I kind of do, but something inside me just tells me we should only be friends, plus I don't think he has those kind of feelings for me" I told her and the thing that was telling me this was Batgirl.

I can't have a relationship with someone. What if they found out about my secret? Then it's over, or what if they get hurt because of who I am? Plus someone would notice me leaving the middle of the night.

"Oh come on Lily. Quit being scared and ask the guy out! If he says no then screw him, there are plenty of men out there looking for a sweet caring girl like you" She said and I laughed as she used the same sentence that I told her when she was afraid of asking Phillip, her boyfriend out two years ago.

"You know those are my words" I told her.

"Yes and they worked well with me. So you should take your own advice and do it" She told me.

"Maybe later, but not now. We've only known each other for a month and a half now" I told her and she let out a sigh.

"Okay, but call or message me first thing when you do ask him or if he asks you out and do not say no" She said pointing a finger at me and I nodded.

The waitress returned shortly with our drinks. Waiting for our food we laughed about old times and spoke about how our lives had changed greatly since graduating college.

"So how's the whole restaurant thing going?" She asked me.

"Um, it's on hold at the moment" I told her.

"Oh, is it because of money?" She asked me with a sad look on her face.

"Kind of, but it's also because of what's going on around here lately. Have you heard about the Riddler and Penguin?" I asked her and she nodded.

"A little. I only did a quick read through on one of those news website on the internet" Alice said as the waitress set our plates of food down in front of us.

"Thanks" We told the woman before she walked off.

We began to eat our food and I almost spat mine out seeing Erik Nolton walk through the doors like he owned the place. I swallowed my food and hoped to God that Erik wouldn't see me, but as fate would have it he did.

"Oh Lily! What a surprise to see you here!" Erik said with a wide smile as he walked over to the booth and sat next to me.

"Yeah, a surprise" I muttered as Alice eyes went wide by Erik rudeness.

"Who is this my sweet Lily?" Erik asked looking at Alice.

"This is Alice, my best friend, and I hate to be rude and all, but I'm not your Lily" I told him.

Erik laughed and shook his head.

"Of course you're not. It is nice to meet you, Alice. I'm Erik Nolton, the director of the Proto-type division at the Wayne Science Facility" Erik said and held out his hand to Alice.

She shook it and set it down as she stared at him with a look she only gave people who she thought was a creep.

"Hello, Mr. Nolton. What can I get you today?" The waitress asked showing up.

"I'll have what these two lovely women are having" He said.

The woman nodded before leaving.

"So how are you two doing?" He asked us.

"We're fine" I said quickly before Alice could speak.

I was getting tired of Erik. He was annoying and I had tried to be good to him, but today was a final straw since the way he ruined my meeting with Alice, and the weird phone calls I get from him asking about Bruce at around 7 in the morning after a hard night of crime fighting. He sort of had a weird obsession with him.

I closed my eyes and opened them once my phone began to ring. I got it out of my pocket and saw that it was Papa. I excused myself and walked outside. I answered it.

"Hello" I said.

"Oh thank goodness you picked up. Mr. Blake is gone. I can't find him" Papa said and my eyes went wide.

Did the Penguin or the Riddler break in and took him? Oh God.

"What? Was the house broken into?" I asked him.

"There are no signs of a break in, but the motorcycle that you wrecked not long ago when you wanted to try out one of those illegal bike races is missing" He said and bit my lip in anger and a little embarrassment from the lie I had told Papa and Bruce about how the bike had been messed up.

I was about to ask him if there was anyone strange around lately, but I heard the very familiar roar of a motorcycle engine. I looked up to see John parking the bike next to the camaro.

"Papa, I found him" I told him and hung up, before walking over to him.

"Hey, Lily" He said smiling and I smacked him on the arm, "Hey! What was that for?"

"What are you doing here!? I just got a call from Papa saying you were missing!" I told him and was pulled into a hug.

"Hey, I'm sorry if I scared you and made you worry, but I couldn't stay inside any longer, plus I got worried about you. It's not safe out here by yourself" John said as I wrapped my arms around him.

"Well next time you decide to sneak out, call and tell me" I told him.

"But you would likely try to talk me out of it" He pointed out as we broke apart from the hug.

"True" I said and glanced at the diner letting out a sigh seeing Erik wave at me.

"Who's he?" John asked seeing him.

"Want to do me a favor?" I asked him.

"I owe you one already" He said, "What is it?"

"Pretend to be my boyfriend" I said.

"That guy trying to get with you?" He asked and I nodded.

"Yes, and he's a weird man who is kind of obsessed with Bruce" I said.

John wrapped his arm around my waist and held me close to him.

"Well let's go and meet him, dear" John said smiling.

I laughed and nodded.

"Okay, honey" I said and we walked inside the diner.

"I'm back guys" I said standing in front of the table, "And you wouldn't believe who I found outside"

"Hello, I'm John Blake, Lily's boyfriend" John said shaking Alice's hand.

"Oh, yeah, Lily spoke a lot about you, John" Alice said smiling after figuring out what we were doing.

"She has? I hope it's about good things" John said and Alice nodded laughing.

"Y-You're dating this pi-cop?" Erik asked glaring at John.

"Yes, I am. Um, John why don't you sit next to Alice" I said.

"Are you sure?" He asked looking down at me and I nodded.

I didn't want Alice to be forced to sit with Erik.

"I-I better get going. I have this meeting with a very important pen-man" Erik said getting out of the booth.

"Oh, well it was nice seeing you, Erik" I said as he glared at John.

"Yes, well good-bye, Alice, Lily and pi-John" Erik said before leaving, but not without bumping into John's shoulder.

John let out a hiss and placed a hand to his side that was still sore from the incident at the House of Fears.

"Are you okay?" I asked him.

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine" He said with his hand still on his side.

"Okay, now if you'll excuse me I have a man to murder" I said and was about to walk out of the diner and go after Erik for purposely bumping into John, if it wasn't for John grabbing my arm.

"Don't do that, I'll have to arrest you then" He said smiling a bit as he removed his hand.

"Fine I won't kill him, this time" I said as we sat down.

Just then the waitress showed up with Erik's food.

"Oh, where did Mr. Nolton go?" She asked looking at everyone.

When she saw John, a blush appeared on her face and got a nervous look on his face.

"He left" Alice said, "But we'll take his food. I'm sure, John here is hungry"

The waitress nodded and set the plate down in front of John.

"Thank you Lizzie" John said smiling at her, causing her to stammer a thank you, before rushing off.

John took the burger from his plate and took a bite out of it as Alice giggled a little. I looked at her confused wondering if she had lost her mind.

"What's so funny?" I asked her.

"Nothing, I just think it's cute that the waitress, Lizzie has a crush on John" Alice said.

I looked at John after he began to choke on his food. I quickly began to pat him on the back.

"W-What?" He asked with wide eyes.

"That girl, Lizzie, she likes you" Alice said glancing at the red headed waitress.

"How do you know this?" He asked her.

"I can tell when someone has a crush" She said shrugging her shoulders, "You should go talk to her"

"I don't think that's a good idea" He said shaking his head.

"How come?" She asked.

"I'm a wanted man. It's too dangerous for me and others if I got into a relationship with someone" John said.

"Oh, I'm sorry for even bringing up the subject! So Lily, how's your Grandfather doing?" She asked me.

Around two thirty, Alice had to leave to meet Phillip and his parents at the zoo. John and I left the diner, back to the manor where Papa was waiting and scolded John for leaving like he did.

Night soon came and I was about to leave for my room to get ready for the night, when there was a knock at the door. Papa left to go answer it wondering who would be knocking on the door at eight o'clock.

Papa returned shortly with a green envelope. I looked at John as he looked at me, before looking back at Papa.

"What's that?" I asked him.

"A letter for you, Mr. Blake" Papa said walking over to him and handed the green envelope to him.

John took it and excused him self from the kitchen. I followed him quickly into the living room. John sat down on the couch opening the envelope. Like before a card fell out, but instead of a newspaper clipping of John, it was a picture of Alice from earlier today. I let out a gasp, while John read out loud the riddle written in blue crayon.

"_Glittering points that downward thrust. Sparkling spears that never rust? What is the answer to this riddle in order to save the girl before she turns._" John said and shook his head, "What does this even mean?"

John stood up and threw the card on the ground.

"Alice is in danger because of me now!" He said angrily as he held a hand to his forehead..

"Don't blame yourself, John" I said standing up, "That's what the Riddler wants you to do!"

"How can you say that!? You're best friend can be killed because of me and you don't want to blame me for that?" He asked pointing to himself.

I grabbed his hand and lowered it.

"I know that John, but why blame you? It's not your fault that the Riddler and the Penguin is after you" I said looking him straight in the eyes.

"Why are you doing this to me?" He asked me frowning as he placed a hand on my cheek.

"Doing what?" I asked as I stared into his eyes that began to get watery.

He shook his head before leaving the room. I let out a sigh and grabbed the card from the ground.

"Everything alright?" Papa asked worriedly.

"Yeah, it's just been a long day" I said before walking up to my room.

I locked the door behind me and quickly changed into my Batgirl suit. I jumped out of my window and rode the motorcycle to the Bat cave.

I sat down at the computer and began to type everything I knew as a possible password that I hadn't used before. Bats, Joker, Bad guys scum, bat01, Batman, super heroes, cave. Hell even superman! Anything is possible. Then I tried with random dates. 4-3-2000, 8-23-98, 3-4-88 and then there was 1-23-1982. It had worked! But why would it be that date? The day that Bruce's parents were murder?

"Oh my God" I gasped nearly falling out of the chair as I finally caught on.

Bruce was Batman. The man that was like a brother to me was my hero, and idol.

"This can't be real" I said looking down at the keyboard.

If it was true that Bruce was Batman then how could he give up being him? Yes, Rachel died and he was blamed for killing Harvey Dent! But that didn't mean he should give up! If that had happened to me, I would had used that as fuel to catch every villain I was able to and lock them behind bars. Not give up and hide in your big, safe, luxurious mansion while everyone else worries about their life!

I shook my head and began to search the computer. I was shocked to find out some secret passage ways inside the manor that would take me down to the cave. I was also shocked that I was able to get all kinds of new weapons, and I found some files that spoke about a man named, Lucius Fox, that could help me with getting weapons, armor and my favorite, vehicles. I found two manuals, one for the Bat cycle, and the Tumbler. I clicked on a button that would release the Tumbler I stood up seeing the black tank rise up from the platform that was under the water.

I ran over to the tank and ran a hand along it. I smiled to myself as I got onto the tank. I started it up and drove out of the cave quickly to Wayne Enterprises where I could meet this Mr. Fox.


	13. Chapter 13

**I Do Not Own Batman or anything else, except my OC(s)!**

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**AN: Sorry this new chapter wasn't posted on Saturday, but I've been busy over the last couple of days visiting family. So I hope you enjoy this new chapter.**

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"Wooo Hooo!" I shouted as I drove through the empty streets of Gotham.

I stopped and parked the take, before taking out my grappling gun. I shot it at the top of the building and rode up, until I found the floor that Mr. Fox was on. I opened a window and walked through it. To say Mr. Fox wasn't surprise to see me was the truth. He simply laughed sitting at his desk.

"I was wondering when you would show" He said.

"You've been expecting me?" I asked him and he nodded.

"For a while now. I see you found the Bat cave and activated the computer. I'm sure you know the real identity of Batman" He said and I nodded, "You're not going to tell anyone are you?"

"You don't have to worry Mr. Fox, I know how to keep a secret and I would never tell a soul" I told him and he smiled.

"That's good to hear, so what is it that you need, Batgirl?" He asked me.

"Weapons, but no guns" I told him, "I don't kill people, I just put them behind bars"

Mr. Fox chuckled and pressed something. He then stood and walked over to a wall.

"Well then step into my other office and we'll find something more suitable for you" He said as a opening appeared.

Mr. Fox stepped through the opening and I followed him. The doors closed and we were lowered to huge room with all kind of things. Camo-Tumblers, tables of weapons, something huge under a tarp.

"What's that?" I asked pointing to the hidden thing.

"That's not for you" He chuckled, "But this might be"

I looked away from the hidden thing to Mr. Fox. He pointed at a table holding a few different type of weapons. There was a baton very much like mine, a pistol, and some more bat blades. There was also a copy of my domino mask.

"Now, before you start about the no guns rule, let me just point out that it only shoots rubber bullets. It won't kill anyone. Just stun them" He said, "This baton is similar to the one you have, but it's also electrified"

Mr. Fox picked the baton up and pressed a small button on the handle. He then touched a metal table near by causing a little bit electricity to shoot from it.

"It's perfectly safe to use, even near water, because it will shut off immediately when it's touched. The Bat blades are the same as the ones you found in the cave. I'm sure you may need some more" He said and I nodded, "This mask is just like your own, but with an extra thing to it. When someone tries to un-mask you they will be shocked un-conscious"

"Well then I think we're done here" He said handing me the items.

We left the hidden room, and I climbed down the building using my grappling gun. I got in the Tumbler and drove back to the cave. I sat my old baton down and put the new on my utility belt. I then place the pistol on the other side of my belt and replaced the mask. When I was finished, I took a set of stairs that would take me to the east wing of the house, where John's room was.

My eyes went wide when he wasn't in there. I thought he came up here after he left the living room? I turned around and searched the whole manor, except the west wing, because Bruce would most likely try to attack me, and because no one is allowed in there.

When I did not find him, I left the manor and headed towards Gotham to see if I could find him. This time I took the Batcycle to try it out. I stopped the Batcycle when I thought I heard John shouting. I got off and walked down the alley it was in front of.

"Come on out! I'm here Riddler! Penguin!" I heard him shout causing me to run faster down the alley.

I tackled him to the ground and sat up on him pinning his arms.

"What are you crazy?" I asked him.

"No, I'm trying to end this stupid thing with them! They threatened someone, just because they seen me with her earlier today! I don't want it to ever happen again" John said angrily and flipped me over where he was on top, "Especially to Lily"

"I'll watch over her then. Both of them" I said breathing heavily from being surprised from the sudden flip.

"You can't protect everyone Batgirl. One of these days someone you care about will get hurt or worse die" John said and lowered his face down a bit.

"I already lost someone I care about John. They died right in front of me and I couldn't do one thing about it. You know that!" I told him with tears coming to my eyes, "That is why I must try to protect everyone, John. I don't want others to know what it's like to lose a love one"

The tears began to fall from my eyes, "So that's why I'm going to try"

"But that doesn't mean you should sacrifice yourself, because the people who care for you will know that pain you try to protect everyone from" He said and paused for a moment, "I'll feel that pain, because I care about you"

I stared at him. What did he just say?

"W-what?" I asked him.

"I care about you, Batgirl. I care about you a lot, no matter who you are beneath that mask" He said, "You saved my ass a lot of times. You even told me to run for it, to leave you behind when that bomb was about to blow"

Every passing second he spoke, his head lowered towards mine. I froze as I was torn between letting him have his way, or pushing him off and running away, because of who I was beneath that mask it would kill me to face him the next day. The thoughts left my mind as John's lips were on mine. I kissed him back. Our lips moved as if they were synced. John bit my bottom lip. I let out a moan and opened my mouth for him to explore.

I do not not know how much time had passed during our make-out session on the filthy floor of the dark alley, but when it was over, I felt awful. He liked Batgirl the crime fighting super-hero, not Lily Smith, Granddaughter of Bruce Wayne's butler, Alfred, who's dream is to open a five star restaurant and have a family.

"This can't happen again, John" I told him as we stood in the alley looking at each other.

"Why not? I thought you liked me" He said.

"I do, and that's why this can't happen again. You deserve a life without being in danger" I told him and turned, "Go back to Wayne Manor and stay safe, while I try to figure out that riddle. And when this Riddler and Penguin thing is over find a nice girl, and settle down"

"Now let's go back to the manor. I'm sure Lily is worried about you" I said with a sigh.

"No, I'm not going back" He said, "Not right now. I have to find them and put a stop to it"

I rolled my eyes as he began to walk away. I got out my grappling gun and shot it at John making the rope tie around him. He shouted and glared at me.

"Sorry John, but I'm not letting you do that" I told him and dragged him over to the Bat cycle.

"You can't do this!" He shouted as I made him sit on the cycle.

"Watch me" I said into his ear as I got on the cycle behind him.

I could feel him shudder from my breath hitting his neck. I started the cycle and I drove back to the manor. After dropping John off and knocking on the door I left for the cave. Getting there I took off my suit, changed into a pair of pajama bottoms, and a tank top. I walked up the secret staircase leading to the east wing library. I walked out of the library and to my room. I fell onto my bed and cried myself to sleep.

Morning came to fast for me as I sat up in my bed. My neck felt sore as I walked to the bathroom. I stood in the mirror wondering why it was sore. I let out a groan seeing the bruise John must had caused last night. I let out a sigh and took a shower. Getting out, dressed, brushing my hair and applied make up on my neck to hide the bruise.

I walked out the bathroom and bumped into John. I looked at him with wide eyes and bit my lip as the memory of last night replayed through my mind.

"Lily, I'm sorry about yesterday. This whole thing is just getting to me" John said looking down at the ground, "And I got angry because they're threatening your friend Alice, because she was seen with me. Now I'm scared that they might come after you"

"John" I said placing a hand on his chest, "It's going to be alright"

"I hope so" He said, "And thank you so much for being my friend"

John pulled me into a hug and my heart dropped. I wrapped my arms around him slowly and felt like crying.

"Lily" Papa said as we pulled away from each other.

"Yes, Papa?" I asked him as he walked over towards me with a worried look on his face.

"Something bad has happened" Papa said and my stomach did a flip.

"What happened?" I asked him.

"I just got off the phone with a man named Phillip Clark, he told me that you were friends with his fiancee, Alice Jones" Papa paused when I let out a small squeal.

Phillip finally proposed to her! Yes, but why didn't she call and tell me?

"Lily, Phillip told me that he hasn't seen Alice since they left the zoo yesterday evening" Papa said and I felt cold.

"W-What?" I asked.

"He said that she had to get her purse that she had left in the penguin section of the zoo. She told him to go on home with his parents, because she didn't want him to miss the Red Sox game just because she had to get her purse" Papa told me, "He was wondering if you have heard anything from her, but I'm guessing you haven't. I'll go call him back and let him now then. Will you be okay?"

"I'll be fine Papa" I said and mentally added, o_nce I kick some Penguin ass_.

"Okay, then" Papa said and left.

I rushed to my room with John following me.

"Where are you going?" He asked me.

"To the zoo. The Penguin must be hiding there" I told him.

"What are you going to do? Walk in and demand to have Alice returned? The Penguin will take you or worse kill you, Lily" John said stopping me.

"But I have to try to save her, John. I can't lose her. She's my only friend, besides you" I told him.

"Let me go and try to save her. I'm a trained police officer" John said.

"That's suicide, John. I can't let you do that" I told him.

"I can't let you either, so that's why I'm doing this" He said and pushed me into my room.

He shut the door quickly and placed something in front of it. I tried to open my door, but couldn't. I kicked it.

"Don't do this John!" I shouted.

"I have to" He said and I heard him walk away.

I took the sheets off of my bed and tied them together to make a rope. I tied it to the end of my bed reminding me the first few times of sneaking out to fight crime. It felt so long ago, but really it's only been two months. I took a breath and climbed down the rope.

I ran to the front of the manor as John rode the black motorcycle out of the garage and away from the manor. I quickly ran into the manor and up to the east wing library, where I took the secret passage to the cave. I grabbed my suit and put it on. I got on the Bat cycle and headed for the Zoo.


	14. Chapter 14

**I Do Not Own Batman or anything else, except my OC(s)!**

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Reaching the zoo I saw the black motorcycle that John had took sitting in the parking lot. I walked through the zoo after buying a ticket. I got some really strange looks as I waited in the small line. When I got the ticket I rushed to the penguin exhibit area called Icicle Land. Icicles that was it, the answer to the riddle. This was a trap.

"Now that you're here Batgirl the party can start" I heard the Penguin laugh.

I spun around and was hit with something hard and cold. I let out a groan as I sat up.

"Let them go Penguin" I said standing up.

"No" He said and shot something at me.

I dodged and got out the pistol. I shot it once at him. One of the rubber bullets hit his finned hand causing him to drop the weird gun. I ran at him and punched him hard in the face making him fall backwards. The Penguin laughed as he got up.

"You hit like a girl" He spat and I kicked him in the gut.

"Where are they?" I asked him.

"You'd like to know wouldn't you?" He asked smirking.

"I would very much like to know. That's why I'm asking" I told him.

"You have style kid. I like that, so that's why I'm going to tell you" He said, "The girl is hanging above a tank of liquid nitrogen. The boy, the Riddler has him. You have about thirty seconds to save the girl, before she turns into an icicle. So what are you going to do? Let me go or save the girl? Twenty seconds now"

I punched him hard in the face before running into the penguin room. Hanging above a tank with white smoke coming from was Alice. She was crying as a clock next to her ticked quickly. Fifteen seconds! I ran over to the tank quickly as I could. I was few feet away when Alice was dropped. I jumped and caught her falling to the ground away from the tank.

"Oh my God! Thank you so much" Alice cried as I sat up.

"You're welcome" I said and took the chains off of her, "Are you okay?"

"I-I'm fine" She cried.

"That's good. You're fiancee is worried sick about you" I told her as I stood up.

"That's Phillip for ya" She laughed standing, "That one man, The Riddler, he took this police officer named John Blake only because the Riddler is in love my friend Lily Smith. Oh God, I think he's going to go after her next!"

"Do you know where he took him?" I asked her.

"Um, he said something to the Penguin about this science facility. I-I don't know" She said.

"I know where. The Wayne Science Facility" I said, "We better get you out of here"

Alice and I left the room. I quickly left her to some security guards, while I left for the facility. How could I not have figured it out!? Erik was the Riddler this whole time!

I got off the cycle after driving through the city. Walked through the front door and fought off some guards who were being controlled.

"Riddler, let the cop go!" I shouted.

"Why should I?" He asked stepping out of a room.

"Because if you don't I'll kick your ass. Now let him go" I said glaring at the man.

"You're spunky. I like that in my women, well kind of. You see I like this girl a lot and your pig friend is dating her. So I want to make him suffer so much he won't even think of seeing her again" The Riddler said.

"Erik, why make him suffer? You said you like this girl, right? If you make him suffer, you'll make her suffer. Wouldn't you hate to see her in pain for something you did?" I asked.

"So you figured out who I really am? Hmp, well to answer your question, she doesn't have to know it was exactly me. I'll just let her think it was the Riddler! Or I can make her forget about this pig!" He said smiling.

I frowned at this.

"So you're going to control her mind?" I asked him walking towards him.

"Yes, that way I don't have to hear her run her mouth about something and I finally get to meet Bruce Wayne! I've been dying to meet him" The Riddler said.

"You're a sick man. You need help" I said stopping a few feet in front of him.

"I think you might need some help. Dressing up as a bat and fighting criminals? Oh and watch out" He said.

I was about to ask him what he meant by that, but I was struck in the back by something hard and knocked to the ground. I turned around to see John.

"What are you doing?" I asked him.

"He's my new puppet. You like him?" The Riddler asked, "Now let's see what's behind that mask"

The Riddler reached down to take my mask off, but I rolled away as I felt a sharp pain in my back. I bit my lip as I stood.

"No one gets a free show, sorry" I told him.

"Go get her, boy!" The Riddler said to John like he was a puppy.

John came at me.

"I'm sorry, John" I said before punching him in gut.

He bent over holding his stomach, before straightening up. John threw the baton he had at me hitting me in the stomach. I dropped to floor in pain.

"Ow" I said raising my hand to my stomach.

"Now let's see" The Riddler said and yanked my mask off.

I expected him to be shocked, but I must had put on the wrong mask. He let out a gasp and dropped the mask to the floor.

"I-It can't be. My little Lily is Batgirl" The Riddler said.

I stood up and punched the Riddler in the face. I took off my baton and hit him. Accidentally hitting the turn on button for the electricity. The Riddler flew away from me to the floor. I picked up my mask and put it on. I walked over to him and grabbed him by his jacket.

"Turn off your mind control thing" I told him.

"I don't want ta go ta school Mommy" He said drooling a bit.

"What?" I said looking at him.

"Da kids pick on me callin me cra-zy!" He laughed.

I set him down and walked over to John. He just stood there like a statue.

"John? Are you there?" I asked him and poked him.

John grabbed my hand tightly and I pulled it away from him. Feeling threatened I hit him hard on the head with the baton. This time making sure I didn't hit the power button. John fell to the ground and I caught him before he could hit his head on the marble floor.

I took him away leaving one of the bat blades near the Riddler for the cops to know I was there. I took John back to the manor and laid him down in his bed. I waited next to his bed. He woke up a few hours later.

"Ow, my head" He said and touched his head.

"Thank God your awake!" I said standing up and rushing to his side.

"What happened?" He asked me.

"You don't remember?" I asked him.

"Last thing I remember is parking the motorcycle at the zoo" He said and I let out an inner sigh of relief.

He didn't remember seeing that I was Batgirl and the Riddler's brain was too fried to even think of something. While John laid unconscious I watched the news when it was broadcast that the Riddler knew who Batgirl was.

_"So who is the Batgirl, Mr. Nolton!?" Asked a reporter as the cops dragged him towards the car._

"You want to know who she is?" He asked the reporter told him yes, "I am the Batgirl!" He shouted laughing like a maniac.

"The Riddler took you and put you under his mind control thing. He made you try to fight Batgirl, but she stopped you and the Riddler. She had to knock you out to make you free of his control" I told him.

"What happened to the Riddler and the Penguin? What about Alice?" He asked.

"Batgirl saved Alice, don't worry about her. The Riddler had his mind fried by some electricity and is going to Arkham as we speak, but the Penguin he got away" I told him.

"Dammit. I thought it was finally over" John said.

"Don't worry. I'm sure Batgirl will get him" I told him and John nodded before hissing, "Careful, she hit you pretty hard"

"Really? I hadn't a clue" He chuckled a little.

"Hey, no smarting off to me, mister" I told him and he laughed, "Well I better go and get you something for your head"

John nodded and let out a hiss again. I rolled my eyes and left his room. When will he learn?


	15. Chapter 15

**I Do Not Own Batman or anything else, except my OC(s)!**

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**AN: Here it is the last chapter of Before the Storm. I am so glad that I have written this, because I love getting everyones reviews! When I first started this I had no idea about how many people would actually read this. Thank you all for reading, reviewing and following this story. I hate to stop, but the Dark Knight must rise onto the next story of our hero.**

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Two weeks had passed. There had been zero sightings of the Penguin, and one museum exhibit break in. Shockingly it was the recently added gold rush exhibit and guess what was stolen. Four golden bars donated to the museum by Bruce nine years ago that was put on display quite recently.

I searched the sewers a few time and had to leave when I thought I heard a man speak with a weird accent to a group of people. I did find the lair of the Penguin, but it was an old one. He had moved to somewhere else.

I visited Arkharm where The Riddler was kept. I asked him about the Penguin and the only thing he told me was that he once had a pet snail and he named him Steve. I left knowing I wouldn't get anything from him.

So I started checking out old abandon ice skating rinks, zoos, ice cream factory, anything cold, but couldn't find anything! Except for this one place, an old Ice making factory that was shut down in 80's due to the bad activities that was going on in the Narrows.

I got off the Bat cycle as I stood in front of the old factory that was covered in spray paint. I walked over to the main door and saw that there once was a chain locking the door, but now it laid on the ground a foot away. I opened the door and walked inside with my baton out and ready to strike at anything.

Laughing could be heard as I walked quietly through the dark hallways of the factory. I turned a corner and jumped back quickly when I saw that it lead to the shipping with a giant ray gun with the Penguin laughing next to it.

"So what is it, boss?" I heard someone ask.

"Well I got that science nerd the Riddler to fix this morphing ray. Everyone in Gotham will be morphed to look like a penguin! So that way they know how I feel when walking down the street and get laughed at or weird looks!" He growled angrily.

"Oh, so why the gold bars?" The person asked.

"Because that's what powers the stupid thing!" He said and heard him move away.

I looked out from the behind the corner to see him grab a bag that had gold bars in them.

"But first I think we need to test it out. Bring me the pig" The Penguin said and my eyes went wide when I saw some of his men drag an unconscious John in front of the ray.

I put away my baton and got out my pistol. I aimed and shot the men holding him. They dropped in pain, and the Penguin looked around the area. I looked up and saw an air vent. I climbed up into it and headed towards the shipping room they were in. I dropped down and began to fight my way to the Penguin.

Punch, kick, flip, punch kick flip. It sort of felt like a dance to me as I fought off his goons.

"Don't do this Penguin! Be the better man!" I shouted as I punched a man in the face.

"I would, but you see I'm not a man, I'm a Penguin!" He said laughing and tossed the bag of gold bars into a dish on top of the ray.

I dropped the guy I had in my hands and got out my grappling gun. I shot at the top of the ray and was about to go to the top to get the bars, but I was stopped by the Penguin.

"Stop or I'll kill the pig" He shouted.

I turned around to see the Penguin holding his umbrella to John's head as he sat up awake.

"Don't do it, Penguin" I said and reached for a bat blade.

I grabbed one, and quickly tossed it at the Penguin's hand. He let out a hiss and dropped his umbrella.

"Run John!" I shouted and John did the opposite.

He stood up and began to fight the Penguin.

"Hurry! While I hold him off!" John shouted and I nodded before making my way to the top.

Reaching the top I grabbed the bag and tossed it to the ground. I glided to the ground and gasped when I saw the four gold bars laying on the ground next to the bleeding head of the Penguin. I had killed him. I dropped to my knees and covered my mouth as I felt like puking. I couldn't had killed him! I just couldn't!

"Hey, it's alright, you saved Gotham" John said kneeling next to me.

"But I killed a man" I said looking away from him.

"It was to save the people of Gotham" He told me.

I nodded and stood up.

"So now that's Gotham is finally safe, I better go. Have a nice life, John. Maybe we'll meet again" I told him ran from the factory.

I got onto the bat cycle and rode off to the cave. At the cave I quickly changed into my pajamas and walked up to the library. I then went to my room and went to sleep as I couldn't wait to hear what the news had to say about Batgirl saving Gotham from the evil Penguin.

In the morning I sat in the living room eating a bowl of cereal sitting on the couch next to John watching the news.

_"It seems that a lot has went down last night at the old abandon ice factory located in the Narrows. Batgirl and a police officer, not named fought the Penguin to save the people of Gotham from being transformed into what seems to be a penguin. The ray designed by Erik Nolton, who has recently been locked up in Arkham after his run in with Batgirl for being the Riddler, has been destroyed"_

"The people of Gotham don't have to worry about the Penguin showing up any more, because during the fight last night, a sack of golden bars had fallen and hit the Penguin in the head killing him instantly. As of right now Gotham is safe, but for how long? Now to more important news in two weeks from today, is the eighth anniversary of the death of Harvey Dent. There will be a party held in his name on the grounds of Wayne Manor. Could it be a sign that Bruce Wayne is ready to show his face to the public once more?" The reporter asked and I rolled my eyes.

I turned the TV off and set the remote down.

"Well Gotham's safe once again" I said.

"Yeah, and that means I don't have to worry about being attacked by the Penguin or Riddler. So that means I'll be leaving" John said sadly.

I frowned and looked at him.

"So soon?" I asked him and he nodded.

"Yeah, I've stayed here long enough" He said and stood up.

I set the bowl down on the table and stood up also.

"Well then let me help you pack your things" I said and followed him to his room.

John grabbed his duffel bag from under his bed and began to laying his clothes into it.

"I'm going to miss having you around" I told him as I helped put some of his clothes from the closet on the bed for him to pack, "It's not going to be the same anymore"

"I'm going to miss you" He said looking at me.

"Hey! We'll see each other at one everyday at that diner for lunch! Don't forget it" I told him pointing a finger at him threateningly.

"It's a date then" He grinned and blushed a little.

"As in a real date?" I asked him and he shrugged his shoulders.

"Why not" He said looking at me.

"Then it's a date" I said smiling.

"Don't be late" He said and I nodded.

A few minutes had passed as John packed his things. I let out a sigh when he was done. I walked with him to the garage where he put his duffel bag in the back.

"Well I guess I'll see you tomorrow at one then" He said and I nodded.

"If you ever need a place to stay, you're welcome here. Even if Bruce doesn't like it" I told him and he laughed.

"Tell Bruce I said thank you and tell your Grandfather I said thank you for everything" He said.

"Will do Officer" I said and I hugged him tightly, "Be safe out there"

"I will" He said and I kissed his cheek while I pulled away from him.

I smiled as a blush appeared on his cheek.

"I-I guess I better get going. My apartment must be a mess" He said and got into his car.

He started it and waved at me before driving away. I stood in the driveway with a small tear falling down my cheek. I was going to miss seeing him around here, and having fun conversations. I walked back into the manor knowing that Gotham was once again safe from the villain scum that try to control it. But I did not know that it was only the beginning of a huge storm that was brewing underneath the city of Gotham. This was life Before the Storm hit Gotham, where the people must learn to Rise Above the Storm and survive it from the terror of Bane in order to live After the Storm.

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**AN: And so hereit is the end of Before the Storm. The new story Rise Above the Storm should be up soon as this is out. I hoped you enjoyed this story, now onto the Dark Knight Rises! **


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